Hour Of Need
by That Gorgeous Girl
Summary: AU. The Saiyans are the strongest race in the universe, and every planet's best chance for survival is to secure protection under the Saiyan Empire. Earth's chosen representative to go and convince the King of the Saiyans why he should let their world live, is a gorgeous, 19 year old genius with blue hair. WARNING: This fic contains explicit language and adult situations. [LEMON]
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer: I do not own DBZ_

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Vegeta paced the throne room impatiently and repeatedly checked the time display of the scouter situated over his right eye. His royal red cape billowed furiously in his wake each time his immaculate white boots abruptly changed course at the end of the imaginary line he'd been treading back and forth for the last five minutes, his tail flicking behind him in agitation. He glared at the rose colored lens accusingly for allowing the minutes to creep by at such an unbearably slack rate and, for the fourth time, he depressed the communication link button on his scouter and roughly demanded-

"Where the hell is he, Nappa?"

"I just received word that his ship will make planet fall in an hour, sire," Nappa quickly transmitted back to his querulous sovereign.

At this news, white boots came to an immediate halt upon the black marble floor they had been mercilessly trampling.

"Did you just say an _hour_ , Nappa?" Vegeta asked in a dangerously low tone. He was sure that he had to have heard wrong.

Nappa gulped, he knew that tone well. "Er, yes sire, and also the earthlings have just arrived."

Vegeta cursed sharply, damning his unfortunate predicament and damning the person responsible.

 _I can't believe he set up this fucking meeting and then has the nerve to be late for it!_

Vegeta hated meetings, he hated diplomacy, and he especially hated entertaining foreign emissaries, but it came with the territory of being a ruler, therefore he had to endure it. He would much rather be claiming gloriously bloody victories on a battlefield instead of suffering the bore of politics. The prospect of the meeting itself was irritating enough, but his mood was worsened now that he learned that he alone might have to deal with the earthlings for the hour or so it took for the ship to arrive. He really hoped this race didn't annoy him as much as the last group that came to the palace; he spent much of their visit just forcing himself not to blast them to bits.

Vegeta engaged the com link again. "Nappa, what are these earthlings like?"

"There's two of 'em sire, a man and a woman."

 _A woman?_ From the information in the report that he half skimmed, he knew the earthlings due to arrive were scientists but he had apparently missed the part about one of them being a woman. Female scientists were very uncommon in many parts of the universe, on Planet Vegeta especially.

 _She's probably an old wench._

"Describe the woman to me," Vegeta commanded dryly.

Nappa's tone took on an edge of lewdness as he responded, "You should see her, Vegeta. She's a pretty little female and get a load of this; her hair is _blue._ "

For several moments there was silence at the other end of the com link, and then-

"I'll be right there, Nappa."

Bulma tapped her black patent leather pumps in a soothing rhythm as she sat in the foyer of the Saiyan palace. She looked down at herself, scrutinizing her outfit and wondering for the hundredth time if she made the right selection. She had chosen a tailored navy blue blazer and a matching skirt that came just above her knee, paired with a sleeveless, cream colored silk blouse with a tie front that she had fastened loosely at the base of her throat. Now she wondered if she should have gone with a crisp white cotton blouse instead, or if perhaps she should have worn earrings. The only jewelry she wore were two thin gold cuffs on each of her wrists, but those bracelets were serving a much more important purpose other than fashion.

One thing was for certain, she was thankful she had decided not to wear a pantsuit because the heat on Planet Vegeta was hell-like, and it was not much more of a relief being inside. _Apparently Saiyans have something against air conditioning_ , she mused bitterly. Bulma smoothed back the stray tendrils of aqua hair that had fallen from the low bun at the nape of her neck and fanned her face with the folder she brought with her, completely unaware of the pair of black eyes intently watching her every movement.

From the top of the staircase at the end of the foyer, Vegeta looked down upon the blue haired woman with great interest. Clearly Nappa had not at all been putting him on, if anything, what he had told him of her was an understatement; she was a fantasy with her refreshing beauty and exotic hair color. He had seen creatures with blue skin, blue lips, blue nails, blue blood even, but never…

"Vegeta?" Nappa ventured cautiously.

Vegeta snapped out of his daze and once again became aware of his subject's presence at his side. He turned to Nappa and gave him some instructions, to which Nappa's eyes widened briefly in surprise then narrowed conspiratorially.

Bulma looked up when she saw a massive bald Saiyan with a thin black mustache approaching her, and she immediately stood up along with the male scientist seated next her.

"King Vegeta will see you now," Nappa relayed gruffly once he reached them.

Bulma adjusted her folder in the crook of her arm and nodded to her colleague.

 _Alright, it's showtime._

They both prepared to follow Nappa but the hulking Saiyan held a hand up to them halting their progress.

"Just you," Nappa said, his gaze directed toward Bulma.

The scientists gaped up at him in confusion at the unexpected order, but it was clear by the look in the burly man's eyes that the matter was not up for discussion. Bulma steeled her spine and shot her worried looking counterpart a reassuring look before she followed after Nappa. Obviously the original plan hadn't been for her to enter the meeting alone, but she was prepared to do so. She was more than confident in her knowledge and was more intimately familiar with the technology she was about to present than anyone, especially her latest invention, the invention that was going to save Earth.

The Saiyans were the most powerful beings in the universe and they did not have a reputation for being the most benevolent of rulers. Most of the planets under their rule they acquired for technological and political motivations, taking full advantage of whatever valuable resources the planet had to offer, and in exchange, offered the conquered peoples protection under their prodigious empire. However, any planet they deemed uncooperative or unessential to their dominion was in danger of being purged of all its inhabitants and placed on the planet trade market. Now Earth was on the chopping block, and unless Bulma could convince the King of Saiyans that Earth was a worthy addition to the Saiyan Empire, their place in the universe was uncertain.

Nappa led Bulma into the throne room and walked up to an inconspicuous door on the back wall that he accessed with a security code panel. They passed through the door and Bulma glanced around the room and saw that it held a huge rectangular table with several chairs around it, before they continued past it and came to the door of the room adjacent to it. She expected Nappa would open the door for her and let her inside, but he merely jerked his head towards it and left her standing there. Bulma frowned at his back. _Stupid Saiyans._ Every one of them she had encountered so far on her visit was just like this one, she thought; overgrown brutes. She assumed the king of them would no doubt be the same, probably worse, but she wouldn't let him intimidate her. Bulma reached for the door handle and went inside.

The room she entered looked to be a study or private office, and at the back of it, in front of a large ceiling to floor window in the middle of the wall, there was a man who couldn't have been much taller than herself, poised with his hands clasped behind his cape and facing away from her. His dark hair angled upwards upon his head in defiance to gravity, and unlike the rest of the Saiyans she had seen since her arrival, he wasn't a muscle bound giant. His form appeared to be very compact and lean. Bulma cleared her throat.

"King Vegeta?"

Vegeta turned his head to look at her standing in front of the desk behind him and Bulma was caught off guard by how young he was. She expected the king would be much older, not to mention taller, but he looked to be around her own age of 19 years. She also didn't imagine he'd be so handsome. She couldn't find a single flaw in his sharp angled features and the gentle sunlight streaming in from the window behind him, in combination with the reddish yellow tint of Planet Vegeta's atmosphere, gave him the appearance of being encased in a golden aura. He looked like some kind of god. Bulma swallowed and extended her hand to him in greeting.

"Pleasure to finally meet you, King Vegeta. I'm Bulma Brief of Earth, President of Capsule Corporation," she introduced herself in her best professional voice.

Vegeta made no move to take her hand, he didn't notice it was there. He found the blue haired woman to be even more stunning up close, and her eyes…he hadn't noticed from afar that they were the same striking blue hue as her hair and he was caught by their resplendence.

Bulma felt awkward with her lone hand outstretched between them, and she wanted to kick herself when she realized she was foolishly initiating an earthling greeting that was likely unfamiliar to his alien culture. She began to withdraw her hand in embarrassment but then his hand shot forward and clasped hers in his own.

The Saiyan was indeed unfamiliar with the earthling custom, but at the last second he decided to take advantage of her outstretched hand. He had an urge to know the feel of it. The woman's hand was so tiny, fair, and so _soft_ in comparison to his large, tan, calloused one. He wondered if the rest of her body had the same satiny texture. He was loath to release her, but release her he did, and he sat down at the desk and continued to study her. She was delicate and feminine, so unlike Saiyan women with their masculine musculature and harsh demeanor. Vegeta pushed a button on his scouter and got a reading on her power level, it was a paltry 11. He wondered how such a weak creature could bear the gravity of Planet Vegeta.

When he first took her hand Bulma thought maybe he did know what a handshake was, but he had simply held it for a few moments and then let go of it; there was no "shake" involved. She stood there for some seconds afterwards unsure of his reaction. The man's features were unreadable and he hadn't uttered a single word to her yet, so she decided to jump right into her presentation. She pushed her semi-rimless glasses up on the bridge of her nose and began.

"I was sent here by Earth's king as an official emissary because I am one of the best and brightest minds our planet has to offer. My company-"

"What is that contraption on your face, woman?" Vegeta demanded.

Bulma blinked, startled by his deep voice interrupting her so suddenly, and then her cheeks turned scarlet. _Oh my God, Is it that obvious?_ "Uh, wh-, my glasses?" she stuttered, immediately feeling self conscious that apparently the king had seen right through her. Her vision was perfect, the stylish frames were merely for show. She had worn them in an effort to try to appear more older and professional looking, but she regretted the decision now.

"Take them off," Vegeta ordered. He didn't like them. They partially obstructed the brilliance of her eyes. "Glasses" didn't suit the woman, he decided.

"Alright…" she said hesitantly complying with the odd request.

Bulma took a deep breath and removed the glasses. Things were not going as she had planned, she was off to a questionable start and her confidence was dwindling. _Focus Bulma._ But it was hard for her to focus under the weight of the Saiyan's impenetrable gaze. It was both stoic and very intense at the same time. She slipped the glasses into her jacket pocket and those simple movements made her become uncomfortably warm. The room was suddenly oven-like.

"Would you mind if I removed my jacket? It's really hot in here," Bulma said laughing nervously, hoping to lighten the atmosphere.

Vegeta's impassive countenance moved to accommodate a small smirk. "Saiyans like it hot," he said, amused at the woman's flustered state.

"Yes, I noticed," Bulma commented absently as she took off her jacket, totally missing the suggestive undertones of Vegeta's reply. She looked around the study with her jacket in hand, unsure of where to hang it.

"Where may I put this?" she inquired politely.

With a short wave of his hand Vegeta indicated the surface of the bare desk he was seated behind, so Bulma carefully laid her jacket down to the left of him. When the material landed upon the desk, her scent leapt off the cotton fibers and wafted up to his astute nose. He closed his eyes and breathed it in, letting it fill his senses completely. He couldn't place the sweet fragrance, all he knew was that it was nothing short of intoxicating. If her mere garment could smell that delicious, he could only imagine what the scent of her flesh had to offer. His eyes were half lidded when they opened and looked up at the woman standing in front of him, rifling through the papers in her folder, absolutely oblivious to his burgeoning desire.

Bulma reviewed her notes, attempting to refocus her mind on what she was there to discuss. She had no idea why she was so nervous. Yes, the fate of the Earth depended upon the success of this meeting, but despite that, she was only doing something that she had done hundreds of times before. In essence, this presentation was no different than any other she had given in which she had always been assertive, articulate, and persuasive, even under a great deal of pressure. All she had to do was summon those qualities that she knew very well that she possessed, right then and there, and everything would turn out fine.

Bulma neatly straightened her papers back up and closed the folder, but when she looked back up to address her sole listener, all the confidence she had just built up within herself crumbled the moment she met his eyes. His previously inexpressive obsidian eyes had grown impossibly darker, and his eyelids were heavy in a way she did not dare give a name to, but that was effectively making her feel as though her clothes were transparent. Bulma quickly re-opened her folder and dropped her gaze down to the top page of notes in an effort to avoid Vegeta's bedroom eyes. _Why is he staring at me like that?_ She could feel heat rising to her cheeks as she tucked a stray hair behind her ear and began to speak again.

"So as I was saying before, my company, Capsule Corporation, is the largest and most advanced technological company on earth. Though we humans have only recently become a space-faring race, uh-" Bulma faltered when she glanced up to see the Saiyan remove his scouter, casually rise from his seat, and come around the desk towards her.

Vegeta slowly approached her, his tail waving lazily underneath his cape as he let his eyes roam over her body at their leisure, absorbing all the signs of her distress; the way she frequently swallowed, the prominent flush adorning her cheeks, her excessive blinking, and the way she repeatedly licked her crimson painted lips. Vegeta was very curious about that lip paint. He wanted to taste it.

Bulma looked back down at the paper that was serving no purpose other than to distract her from the handsome alien's seductive gaze, and hurriedly continued.

"Even though we've only recently become a space-faring race, certain technologies produced at Capsule Corp. are far superior to that offered by the most technologically advanced planets in the Saiyan Empire-"

"Aren't you a little young to be the leader of such a powerful company?" Vegeta interrupted, coming to a halt at her left shoulder.

Bulma's head snapped up and her cerulean eyes were alight with indignation. "Aren't you a little young to be a king?" she shot back before she could stop herself, and her mouth clamped shut in horror immediately after the words left her lips. Her face was burning in embarrassment, she couldn't believe she had just mouthed off to an insanely powerful alien who held the fate of her world at his discretion.

 _Way to save Earth, Bulma!_

Vegeta's eyes flickered with amusement. _A fiery one._ Normally he would never tolerate that kind of insolence from anyone, but seeing that spark of passion in her vivid irises excited him. He said nothing as he resumed his little stroll and walked past her.

"I-, what I meant to say was I-, just like you, I have also accomplished a lot at a very young age…" Bulma quickly began to backpedal, rattling off a list of all the numerous scientific achievements and accolades she had obtained in her short life.

"Impressive," Vegeta murmured, though not in response to her babbling. He was standing a few feet behind the woman now admiring the back view of her. The skirt she was wearing was not form fitting, but her luscious curves were distinguishable nevertheless, and there was a small slit at the bottom of the garment that allowed a tantalizing peek of the back of her thighs. It was driving him mad. He stared at the slit, silently willing it to go higher. Saiyan women walked around in very revealing armor that left almost nothing to the imagination, but somehow the earthling's modest dress proved more provocative.

When Nappa first told him of this blue haired woman he had only wished to get a good look at her, creatures with blue coloring intrigued him, but he knew now that he would not be content with simply looking. He watched her squirm as she continued to prattle on. She kept rubbing her thighs against each other every so often and he wondered if it was just out of nervousness or perhaps something more. Vegeta scented the air but was disappointed when he did not catch the scent he was hoping for. _But that can be helped._ He smirked and walked up behind the unsuspecting beauty.

Bulma's breath caught in her chest mid-sentence when she became acutely aware of the Saiyan's presence directly behind her, not more than an inch away. A pulsing heat was emanating from his body and warming her all over, but the heat wasn't at all stifling; it was a pleasant sensation that rippled through her entire being like gentle waves of electricity. She licked her lips and opened her mouth to speak but no words came. Her eyes fell closed when she felt him lean his head down to the back of her pale, slender neck and graze it with his lips, just barely. The contact was so feather light, Bulma almost thought she imagined it.

"King Vegeta?" Bulma managed weakly.

Then those lips were right next to her ear.

"Yes?" he breathed, his voice dripping with lust.

Bulma clenched her shut eyelids together more tightly as she desperately tried to keep her body from shuddering in response to the husky timbre of his velvety voice, and warm breath caressing the contours of her ear. _What is he doing? What am_ I _doing?_ As a beautiful young woman in a field dominated by men, she was used to lewd advances and sexually charged comments, and she had never before hesitated to shoot them all down in reprimand. Bulma wondered why she wasn't doing so now. _This is crazy. Bulma, you have to put a stop to this and get this meeting underway, Earth is counting on you,_ she chastised herself inwardly. Before she considered whether or not she really wanted to, she squared her shoulders and stepped away from the erotic alien.

"King Vegeta, I would love to continue if you would stop being so inappropriate. I insist that you please return to your desk so I can get on with my presentation," Bulma said, reprising her professional voice and not daring to turn around and meet his eyes.

The Saiyan growled softly at her back and let out a small sigh of discontent that he would not get a chance to taste the delectable earthling after all. He admitted to himself that perhaps he had come on too strong, too fast for her, but he couldn't help that the blue haired creature was so damn tempting. He had never been so attracted to a woman in his life, and it was all he could do not to pounce upon her like his animalistic Saiyan nature was urging him to do. Vegeta forced himself to walk away from her, accepting that he would just have to control his bodily urges and allow her to finish her discourse. As Vegeta passed from behind the woman, his errant tail found its way underneath her skirt.

Bulma jolted in surprise and then bit her lip as the mischievous appendage brushed over the highly sensitive skin on her inner thigh, and briefly tickled her nether lips with its soft fine hairs through the lace pattern of her panties. She knit her eyebrows together and sighed in pleasure as the fleeting contact broke through her last wall of resistance, and the heat that had been building up inside of her pooled down to the juncture of her thighs.

Vegeta had just reached the side of his chair when he abruptly stiffened, then his muscles gradually slipped back into repose as he closed his eyes and tilted his head upward to fill his nose with the scent that had just been released into the air. It was the scent he had been longing for from the moment the woman had entered the room; the scent he had very nearly given up hope of savoring. Vegeta purred in appreciation of the heavenly aroma of Bulma's arousal that was calling to his virility, he couldn't have predicted that she would smell this appetizing. He was ravenous.

 _Time to have a taste._

Bulma's eyes widened in panic when the Saiyan suddenly turned back around and deliberately began to approach her with a wicked smirk present upon his gorgeous face. She felt a strong urge to run but her feet wouldn't obey.

"Wh-, what are you doing?" she stuttered out in alarm.

Vegeta kept approaching.

"Please sit back down," she pleaded, desperate now.

He was nearly there.

Bulma thrust her folder out in front of her in attempt to ward him off, but Vegeta just plucked it from her hands and tossed it on the floor. Bulma gasped, her heart pounding in her chest as she backed away from him, and it only pounded harder when she happened to glance down at his full grown erection that was straining against his spandex body suit, and extending down the side of his muscled thigh for an impressive length. A fresh supply of moisture flowed down into her already saturated panties as she gazed at it, and she unconsciously licked her lips in want.

The simple action incited the Saiyan more and he decided that he'd had enough of the woman licking her lips. Now it was his turn.

 **AN: This is a short fic I came up with about 3 years ago, that I was not intending to upload, and totally forgot about it until I stumbled across it today! Let me know if you guys want me to continue it. Oh, and this is definitely a lemony fic, people...it's basically smut with a plot.**


	2. Chapter 2

In one swift motion Bulma was pulled into a sweltering kiss that made her bones feel like they'd taken on the consistency of warm gelatin. She could only cling to Vegeta's biceps for purchase as his mouth overwhelmed hers with lustful passion that chased away all manner of reason that previously resided in her brain. Bulma moaned into Vegeta's mouth as his tongue caressed hers in a slow sequence of sensuality while his gloved hands gripped her bottom, pressing her body tightly against his fully rigid length.

When Vegeta broke their kiss to assail the sensitive skin of her neck with his lips, Bulma melted to the floor. The Saiyan easily caught her when her legs started to give way and lifted her up to wrap them around his waist, never severing his mouth from her as he carried her to the desk and laid her down onto the surface. Rough, scorching hands began branding Bulma's body all over, followed closely by soft, wet lips. Vegeta pulled the bottom of her blouse from her skirt up over her breasts and ripped the front of her nude lace bra apart, having no patience for the foreign article that impeded his carnal exploration of the blue haired siren's body. He hungrily devoured the newly exposed flesh, laving the swell of her full breasts generously with his tongue before nipping her erect nipples with his teeth. Bulma hissed in pleasure when Vegeta bit down on the tender, rosy buds, causing her already urgent arousal to climb higher.

The Saiyan tore himself from the woman's chest to give his attention to the origin of the beautifully potent aroma permeating the air in the room and beckoning to his senses. He pushed her skirt up around her midsection and spread her thighs before him. The hue of her panties was darkened by the excess moisture spilling out of her. Vegeta hooked his fingers around the sides of her panties and slowly removed them from her heat, finally laying eyes on her smooth, bare lips that were completely swollen with need and glistening. A clear string of her essence clung stubbornly from her core to her panties as Vegeta extended the garment further away from her body.

Vegeta watched that string in amazement as it kept stretching outward. It was glittering and shining in it's appearance from being kissed by the sunlight flowing into the room. He was mesmerized by the sparkling string of moisture. It was the most beautiful thing he'd ever witnessed, he was in disbelief at how wet she was for him. His mouth was salivating as he leaned forward to claim a taste of the source of that stunning heaven. Until heaven's gates were promptly shut.

"I don't want this." Bulma sat up panting as she closed her legs to the starving Saiyan. His momentary trance had given her some reprieve from the libidinous high he was inflicting upon her and she regained her capacity to breathe. And think.

Vegeta looked down at her gushing entrance then back up at her in shock. "Woman, you cannot possibly mean that!" He alleged in a voice teetering on distress.

Bulma looked down in shame as she hurriedly pulled her blouse back down and her panties up then slid off the desk, ignoring the feeling of deprivation from his touch as she did so. She cringed as she felt her sticky liquid coating her inner thighs uncomfortably and the throbbing sensation between her legs that went unsatisfied. She couldn't believe what she had almost done. "King Vegeta, we can't do this. This is wrong. This isn't what I came here to do," Bulma insisted as she started for the door in escape.

Vegeta growled at her in disapproval. He was so hard he couldn't think straight and the woman's scent was driving him wild with need. There was no way he was going to let her leave before doing with her what he wanted to do-what he knew she wanted him to do. He grabbed Bulma's wrist before she could reach the door and and pulled her up against him. "Woman, there is nothing wrong about this," he said softly in her ear while sliding his hand slowly over her weeping sex. Bulma shivered, tingles raced across her skin and the haze of lust settled firmly over her again. She couldn't believe what was happening to her body. She did want it. Her body wanted nothing more than to be touched by him at that moment, as wrong as she knew it was.

And it was so wrong.

But knowing it was wrong did nothing to compel her to stop the irresistible man as he backed her up against the wall and descended down her body, pulling her panties down once more. The material fell to the floor and Bulma automatically stepped out of them, pausing her breath in anticipation as the Saiyan knelt to his knee and his face was right in front of her dripping entrance. He raised her left leg, hooking it on his right shoulder for better access as he ventured his tongue forward for a taste. Bulma's right leg trembled as Vegeta feasted on her, thrusting his tongue in and out of her and savoring the unique flavor of her feminine parts.

"King Vegeta," Bulma breathed out as she struggled to remain standing on her trembling leg. She gasped when she was suddenly launched upward along the wall when Vegeta stood upright balancing Bulma on both shoulders with his face now completely buried between her thighs. His tongue stroked her more rapidly and danced aggressively around her pink pearl.

Bulma moaned as the tendrils of ecstasy surmounting in her lower abdomen were getting more and more intense with Vegeta ravaging her delicate flesh relentlessly. "King Vegeta!" Bulma screamed when her orgasm erupted onto Vegeta's waiting tongue. Bulma grabbed handfuls of his thick black flame of hair and clenched her thighs around his head tightly as she rode the waves of her climax, not noticing when a stern faced man entered the room, grimacing as the smell of sex punched him in the face.

"Yes?" A sharp voice pierced the room.

Bulma eyes went wide at the newcomer and she nearly toppled over from her perch on Vegeta's shoulders trying to scramble down to the floor.

"Fuck," Vegeta muttered under his breath, setting the frantic woman back down to her feet. Had it been a whole hour already?

The man scowled at both of them as they tried to collect themselves, then he addressed Bulma. "You called for me, well here I am. _I_ am King Vegeta," he clarified, without a single trace of amusement on his face.

Bulma gawked at the man, her face blistering red in humiliation. She looked between him and Vegeta, noticing for the first time that both possessed the same flame shape of hair, the same deep widows peak, and strikingly similar facial features. In fact, he could pass for an older version of the man who had just given her the best orgasm of her life. She looked back at Vegeta and realization gradually dawned upon her as she choked out,"So-, then you're-"

"Prince Vegeta, at your service." Vegeta took the opportunity to introduce himself to the woman for the first time. He deliberately licked his lips that were noticeably coated with her juices and grinned devilishly when he saw Bulma's confused expression morph into one of rage.

"The meeting will start 15 minutes from now, in the royal conference room," King Vegeta notified them in a no nonsense fashion, then told Bulma specifically, "Take this time to prepare, and if you wish to clean up beforehand, a guard is waiting outside of the throne room. He will escort you." Though it was phrased as an offer, it was communicated as a direct order. He couldn't have the scent of her arousal wafting all around the room during the meeting, working the council members into a frenzy. Bulma just nodded dumbly, too deeply embarrassed by this point for her face to become any redder. She could not have made a more hasty departure from the room.

Once Bulma left, King Vegeta turned to his son and fixed him with a glare so sinister that Vegeta would have feared for his life had he not been on the receiving end of that look countless times before.

"Welcome home father," Vegeta greeted, bowing his head. "I trust your journey was fruitful." he spoke very casually, as if he hadn't just been caught in quite a compromising position seconds ago. It came as no surprise to him when his father responded with a solid smack on the back of his bent head.

"Found your latest victim, have you?" his father snarled. Vegeta calmly raised his abused head and remained silent, knowing full well the question was a trap.

"Answer me, boy!" the king demanded angrily.

"I was-" Vegeta started to answer before he was struck hard again in the same exact spot. Damned if he did, damned if he didn't. He sighed in irritation as quietly as he could through his nostrils, so as not to further encourage his father's ire.

"Tell me, my _son_ ," King Vegeta spat out as if he regretted having a son at all, "What is the official punishment for impersonating the King—a treasonous crime?"

"Death," Vegeta replied smoothly without hesitation.

"And what should be the punishment for daring to _defile_ the King's private study?"

"Death."

"And here you have committed both of these death worthy offenses! So what do you think should happen to you, boy?"

"I think that it is fortunate for me that I am the son of the King," Vegeta answered emotionlessly, though he was smirking on the inside. He knew his father would never kill him. Not over this, at least.

A vein was threatening to pop out of King Vegeta's forehead from sheer rage at his son's poorly concealed arrogance. The boy was so transparent and he was so tired of his shit. He was tired of it way before he walked in on him womanizing yet again, this time in one of the king's personal rooms no less. "You think because you're my son, you will go unpunished?" the king roared.

One look at his son told him that, that was exactly what he thought. "I'll tell you what boy," King Vegeta began in a deceptively compromising tone. "Answer me one question correctly and I will waive any and all punishment this time."

Vegeta perked up at this. _One question?_ He was very knowledgeable, surely he'd be able to give the correct answer and escape punishment.

King Vegeta scoffed at the cockiness and hope he saw forming in the prince's eyes and he couldn't wait to dash it. He knew his son so he knew the boy didn't have a prayer of getting the answer right. "That scientist woman you had in here; what was her name?"

The prince visibly started at the unexpected question. Of all the things his father could have asked him. _Her name?_ He could tell his father what she smelled like, what she tasted like, how she felt. He could even tell him how many times her muscles contracted around his tongue as she released her delicious orgasm in his mouth, but her name? Vegeta could not recall it if his life hung in the balance.

 _Fuck!_

"Fool." the king smirked in satisfaction at his son's look of defeat.

 _What_ is _her name?_ Vegeta wondered to himself, suddenly curious to learn it.

"As for your punishment," the king continued, "I discovered that you have been slacking on your documentation of war conflicts and diplomatic missions assigned to your leadership. You have several months of reports to catch up on and I expect them done immediately."

Vegeta cringed inwardly at this. He despised doing mission reports but he was thankful that he was getting off easy. All he had to do was access the mission logs in the electronic database and go back and fill in the necessary information. He wouldn't even have to enter everything manually as there were options to select pre-filled mission details that were usually standard for every mission. A tedious task but simple to do, it would not take him that long.

"On _paper_ ," King Vegeta added, having read his son's mind.

The prince grit his teeth in frustration at the addendum but maintained his composure. It would take him much longer now, yes, but still, this was not the worst of punishments. He could deal with this. "Yes, father," he said, bowing respectfully, expecting to be dismissed.

King Vegeta was far from finished with him.

"And you are barred from participating in combat, indefinitely."

Vegeta's self assured front instantly crumbled. "But, father! You cannot be serious!" he protested. No killing? No battling to the death? No blood of his enemies raining down on him in victory? What was he to do with himself?

 _The old man's gone too far this time!_

"Yes, I am serious, Vegeta! I have warned you time and time again that you had better start taking your duties as the crown prince seriously! Do you know why I was so delayed in my return? I was busy cleaning up YOUR mess! I sent you to Kedna on a DIPLOMATIC VISIT, boy. Imagine my surprise when I went there only to find nothing but space dust where a planet should have been! Did you not think I would notice?" King Vegeta boomed.

"Those insolent weaklings openly denounced the reign of the Saiyan Empire! What? Was I supposed to just let them live after that?" the prince tried to reason with his father. Kedna was a planet full of weaklings on the outskirts of sector 54, that was worthless to the empire. They were defiant and cursed the whole Saiyan race to hell. Vegeta was sure his father would have destroyed them all too. His father had an even shorter fuse than he did.

"That weakling race was too weak to rebel against us! I did not need them to be loyal in order to profit from their labor!" King Vegeta was incensed at his son's ignorance. "Do you realize how foolish you made me look when I had to inform the buyers I had lined up for a huge shipment of Kednian textiles that the planet, along with all that rare merchandise that cannot be produced _anywhere_ else in the universe was suddenly no more? Do you realize how much money you have cost me, Vegeta?"

"Fath-"

"Last I checked, The Kednians were alive and well according to the mission report you failed to update, Vegeta! I mean it, no fighting, and that includes sparring with the elites. You will only be allowed to go on diplomatic visits and you WILL execute and document them properly! Am I clear, boy?"

Vegeta balked at his father. Now he could not even spar with the elites? The only ones on the planet that presented any sort of challenge to him? This wasn't fair. None of it was fair. "But father! I am a Saiyan warrior! How can you not permit me to fight!"

"You are a Saiyan PRINCE and the future King of Vegeta. There is more to ruling than war and bloodshed. You must be well versed in the politics of your planet and every other planet in your domain, and you must be able to exercise diplomacy to your strategic advantage. Such is the life of a King! If you don't like it, then give up your claim to the throne and go live in exile like your brother, Tarble!"

Vegeta winced at the mention of his weak-hearted brother. He would never do something so disgraceful. "I understand, father," Vegeta verbally conceded defeat.

"Go gather the council members, we are already far behind schedule. But before you do that, clean up this room, boy." King Vegeta glared pointedly at Bulma's soiled panties that lay abandoned on the floor. "And you'd better stay the hell out of here."

"Yes, father."

"And wipe that crap off your goddamned face!"

Vegeta looked confused until he wiped at his face and saw red residue smeared on his fingers. The woman's lip paint.

King Vegeta scowled at his son in disgust. He would have let him walk around unsuspecting with red makeup on his lips, looking like the damn fool that he was, but he was a royal of Vegeta so his actions reflected not only himself, but the entire royal house of Vegeta. The king would not stand for him bringing shame to the royal house. He shot one last disdainful look at his son before he turned on his heel and left the room.

Vegeta angrily picked up his scouter that had been knocked to the floor. He couldn't believe how much trouble he'd landed himself in. _That woman is hardly worth all of this!_ He groused to himself, even though he knew she wasn't fully to blame as the punishment was a long time coming. But it was better to blame her than blame himself. The prince strode over to the woman's panties and snatched them up, unable to resist a quick inhale of the scent soaked into them. It lightened his dark mood immediately. She wanted him. The undergarment was concrete proof of that no matter how much she tried to resist him, and at that moment, he decided that finishing what he started with the woman would be recompense for his punishment. Vegeta wasn't worried about getting into more trouble for fooling around with the woman, because short of killing him, his father could do no worse to him, he reasoned before he left to do the king's bidding.

Bulma was in one of the washrooms in the Saiyan palace fussing with her now dilapidated bun, trying her best to pull it together before her presentation for the royal council. Thankfully, she had a capsule on her that contained some beauty essentials. She was able to redo her lipstick and there was some moist towelettes in there so she could wipe away the evidence of her shame. Unfortunately, there wasn't a spare pair of underwear in there, though. Bulma frowned at her reflection in the mirror. Who was this person staring back at her? The Bulma she knew would have never done what she did in that room. How could she have let things go that far? And what was worse, was that it was by far the most amazing sexual encounter she'd ever experienced. She was so completely enveloped in his powerfully seductive aura that she forgot everything else, all she knew and craved was his touch. Common sense fell to the wayside and her brain checked out on her.

She felt incredibly disappointed and upset with herself...not to mention the _guilt._ Bulma shook her head, hoping to shake her feelings away because she couldn't afford to allow herself to dwell on them for long. She still had a very important mission to carry out, the fate of her planet rested upon her ability to deliver. She could only hope she didn't just jeopardize that with the horrible first impression she made on the real king. _He probably thinks I'm a dirty whore!_ She lamented mentally. That was not her character, she was better than that. Bulma reminded herself that she was a gorgeous genius and her brilliant mind was second to none. Her inventions were amazing and King Vegeta was going to be blown away by them, that was all she needed to focus on and nothing else. But in the meantime, she planned to stay far away from _Prince_ Vegeta. He made her do things she absolutely shouldn't do and feel things she absolutely shouldn't feel. He was dangerous.

He was a bad man.

When Bulma left the washroom she was lead back to the main foyer of the palace to meet up with her colleague. Having the previously forgotten man there with her was a relief now. She was reminded that she didn't have to go at this alone, her encounter with Prince Vegeta left her a lot more appreciative of that fact. Out of all her scientists, he was the only one that had the courage to accompany her to meet with the fearsome Saiyans.

"Miss me, handsome?" she greeted him with a big smile and friendly wink. Tanka really was good looking and with his tall stature and shoulder length blond hair, he looked more like a model than a scientist.

Tanka blushed lightly at his boss's characteristic flirting that he wasn't fully accustomed to yet. "Dr. Brief, I was starting to get worried. It's been an hour."

Bulma's face tinged red briefly as she remembered what occurred during that hour. Something she would never let happen again. "I kind of got held up," she laughed it off waving a hand in dismissal.

"But I'm confused, I was just informed that the meeting would begin shortly. I thought you already conducted the meeting by yourself?"

"No, no, that was just the warm-up meeting before the actual meeting," she spouted the ridiculous lie quickly. "The real meeting is in about five minutes," she said looking at her wristwatch. "We're ready," she said to the guard.

The Saiyan led them to the room she had seen earlier with the huge table surrounded by several chairs. But now the chairs were filled with Saiyan men of various ages, all looming and decked out in full armor and scouters. The only ones she recognized there were the king, the big bald Saiyan she met earlier, and the prince. Bulma flinched at little when her eyes met the cold, intimidating gaze of King Vegeta. She looked away quickly, only to accidentally make eye contact with a very smug looking Saiyan Prince. Bulma narrowed her eyes out at him and mentally assured herself before making her introduction.

 _Relax, Bulma. You've got this._

"Good afternoon, gentlemen. I am Bulma Brief of Earth, President of Capsule Corp and assisting me with the presentation today is, Tanka Beamon, one of our esteemed scientists," she began.

 _Bulma Brief..._ Vegeta tried out her name in his head, committing it to memory this time. And this time, he actually paid attention to what she was saying and found himself impressed by her intellectual abilities. She stunned the room when she pulled out a small device that instantly became a small transportation vehicle when she depressed the top of it and tossed it onto the table. Her audience was just as moved when she proceeded to reduce the vehicle back to capsule form. She made this same demonstration with a capsule refrigerator, then she went on to explain that much bigger objects, such as houses and spaceships, could also be capsulized and for an indefinite amount of time, with no ill effects.

Bulma was pleased with the way her presentation was going and all the impressed looks she saw around the room. However, when she snuck a glance at the king his facial expression was just as severe as ever. She started to get a little worried then. What if her encounter with Prince Vegeta effectively destroyed her chances at getting the king to welcome Earth into his empire? _No, don't be silly Bulma,_ she chided herself. She hadn't even gotten to the best part yet. Her brand new invention was definitely going to capture the Saiyan king's interest. Bulma gave Tanka the signal to start setting up while she announced what that was.

"Capsule Corporation has been experimenting recently with gravity technology in preparation for this meeting. Because the gravity on planet Vegeta is 10 times that of Earth, ordinarily, it would be impossible for Dr. Beamon and I here to stand here without our necks snapping and organs collapsing under the strain of this planet's gravitational pull. But thanks to these," Bulma lifted up her wrists to display the thin gold cuffs encircling them, "We are able to move about the planet as comfortably as we would on Earth."

"The bracelets work by cloaking the body in an adjustable gravity shield that is not affected by outside gravitational forces or physical contact. The shield extends roughly 50 micrometers beyond the epidermal layer of the skin, invisible to the naked eye. We extended experimentation with gravity technology to our ships to create an environment that allows the user to manipulate the gravity inside the space, turning the ship into a gravity chamber."

Tanka pointed a remote at a white metal disc he placed in the middle of the table while Bulma was speaking, and an interactive 3D hologram of a white spherical ship emblazoned with the Capsule Corp logo sprung forth from the disc. As Bulma explained how the gravity inside of the ship worked Tanka used the remote to give the Saiyans a visual tour of the interior.

"My scientists and I theorized that this gravity technology could also be used as an extreme training tool; in that training under higher gravity than normal could result in more significant power gains than training under one's normal gravity tolerance would produce. In order to test that theory it wasn't safe to use a human subject so we decided to use a Saiyan since the Saiyan physiology is more resilient than humans, and you have a denser bone mass, making you less prone to injury."

Tanka clicked some buttons on the remote and the 3D image shifted into one of a tall Saiyan with wild hair, wearing an orange martial arts gi.

"Here was our test subject; 15 year old Saiyan fighter, Goku Son." The image was met with a chorus of gasps and comments from the council.

"Isn't that Bardock's kid?"

"He's the spitting image of Bardock. That must be Kakarot."

"He's been on Earth all this time?"

"So he didn't complete his first mission? Pathetic."

"He's lost his tail! What a disgrace!"

Vegeta was surprised as well. What was a Saiyan doing living on Earth? Did his father know about this? Vegeta observed his father, and through several years of experience in reading the man's facial expressions and body language, he detected no surprise in his father's perpetually severe countenance. He started questioning why his father would keep something like that from him, until it dawned on him that such details were likely included in the briefing he'd been given prior to the earthlings' visit. A briefing he'd neglected to read in full.

Bulma frowned at the negative comments the Saiyans were making about her longtime friend, but continued on as Goku's physical stats were lining the image. "This is Goku before he began a monitored, increased gravity training regimen for 3 months, up to a max of 50 times Earth's gravity."

"A power level of only 390?"

"What a weakling."

"Well, he is a third class."

King Vegeta's expression hardened when Goku's image was revealed. It was a reminder of the inadequacies within his empire. That one of their own botched an infant purge mission, that was completely forgotten about until recently, was unforgivable. Too many oversights due to lack of proper documentation were occurring lately and it was a major source of frustration for the king. Saiyans were the best at fighting, but not so great at record keeping and paperwork. However, he thought their disorganization might be useful in this case.

When the humans first made contact with him about their intended experiment concerning Kakarot, he allowed it because if it failed or something went wrong, it didn't matter because he had no use for a Saiyan who didn't know who he was and wasn't capable of completing a basic infant purge. If he was that much of a weakling, he had no care what happened to the boy, to be honest. But if the experiment was successful it could be a great asset to his empire. Beneath his austerity, the king was anxious to see the results.

"And these are Goku's stats after 3 months of intensive gravity training," Bulma said before Tanka manipulated the image again.

"It's over 6,000!" Vegeta growled out loudly in shock that transformed into anger in short order. If a weakling could experience such a dramatic power increase in that short amount of time, he could only imagine what he would have been able to accomplish with it. That gravity chamber should have been his, it should have been in the hands of the Prince of all Saiyans before anyone else. Instead, right under his nose, this awesome training tool was being wasted on some reject Saiyan. Vegeta felt cheated. He clenched his fists as the room erupted into chatter around him at Goku's noticeably improved physical build, and the vast difference between the old and new stats that now accompanied his image.

"Impossible!" Nappa cried.

"No third class could be that powerful!"

"That's an elite power level! A third class couldn't pull that off!"

"Quiet!" King Vegeta's booming voice rang out in the room and everyone ceased all side conversations and exclamations. "Get on with it, Brief," he ordered Bulma after there was silence in the room once more.

Bulma cleared her throat nervously before she continued. She had no doubt the king would be taken with the gravity technology, but his facial expression seemed even more foul after she revealed the marvelous results. He didn't appear the least bit impressed. Knowing that the Saiyans were a race of warriors who prided themselves on being the strongest in the universe, Bulma thought she couldn't miss with an invention that could promote huge power level increases. She expected the king to go gaga over it.

"This is our first prototype, it's still in the testing stages, but as you just saw, the results are incredible so far. Our next step will be developing gravity chambers for indoor use and we're planning a line of gravity training accessories to increase the difficulty of-"

"Are you able to increase the gravity level beyond 50G, woman?"

Bulma bristled at being interrupted by _him._ "I'm a _genius_ , buddy. Of course I can," Bulma snapped haughtily.

The prince's eyes narrowed at her tone. It was cute before but he was so not in the mood for the woman's disrespect right now. "Well, _genius,_ where is this gravity chamber of yours? You've wasted our time showing us useless things like your little refrigerator thing and your so called hover bike, but you've forgotten the most important thing!"

"As I just said; this is the _first_ prototype. This project was newly developed before this scheduled meeting." Bulma struggled to articulate her reply in a somewhat civil manner. She would have preferred not having to interact with the prince at all.

"Well why did you not bring it?" Vegeta demanded. The king's eyes along with everyone else's fixed upon Bulma expectantly.

"Goku accidentally blew it up while he was training in it," Bulma admitted sheepishly. She wondered now if maybe she should have requested to push the meeting back until she finished conducting her tests with the gravity chamber and constructed more models. Perhaps she'd jumped the gun.

"Oh, isn't that rich!" Vegeta laughed mirthlessly. "You should have brought it straight here instead of letting that third class clown have it-and then the idiot goes and destroys it!"

"Hey!" Bulma shouted at him. She couldn't care less about trying to keep her composure and play nice with the infuriating prince anymore. Even though Goku was not the brightest character around, and honestly she called him an idiot sometimes too, she wasn't about to let _him_ get away with it. "Goku is not a clown or an idiot! He's my friend!"

"Well I've got news for you. Kakarot was sent to your planet as an infant to destroy it, not to be your _friend_. But apparently he was too much of an _idiot_ to carry out that ridiculously simple mission properly!"

Bulma faltered at the new information. _Goku was sent to destroy Earth? No, that can't be true!_ "He would never do that!" she fired back. "Goku is too pure-hearted and has too much honor to ever kill innocent people!"

Vegeta's eyebrow started twitching in revulsion at how passionately the woman was defending the low-level, sorry excuse for a Saiyan. It was especially pissing him off for reasons that blurred between principle and personal. "What are you, fucking him?" he quipped callously.

"That is enough out of you, boy!" the king reprimanded sharply.

"Don't you dare talk to me like that, you little pint sized creep!" Bulma screeched. Everyone looked at Bulma in shock and a deadly silence fell over the room followed by whispers.

"Oh shit, she's done it now."

"Nobody insults the prince's height and lives."

"Welp, there goes her planet."

"This female's got a big set of balls on her."

Vegeta was shaking with barely restrained lethal energy as he rose from his chair to lean forward threateningly and plant his palms on the surface of the table. "Do you want to die, woman?" he clenched out the words through his teeth. Bulma felt a cold shiver run down her spine at the threat, he looked like he really might go through with it. But Bulma refused to back down, she squared her shoulders and crossed her arms over her chest defiantly.

"Not another word, Brief," King Vegeta ordered lowly.

"Being dead would be better than being forced to be in the same room as you a moment longer," Bulma seethed out with as much venom as she could muster, giving another blow of shock to her audience and setting off another round of whispering.

"How is she not dead yet?"

"I guess the prince has finally met his match."

"She may be human, but boy, does she have the mouth of a Saiyan woman."

"Get a load of those balls!"

"Everyone shut up right now!" the King tried again, furious that no one was listening to him anymore.

Vegeta's mouth stretched into a terrifyingly malignant grin. "Oh? You didn't mind being in the same room with me an hour ago when I had you screaming my name and cumming in my mouth." He accentuated his statement by slowly licking his lips. The other Saiyans erupted in laughter and provided some more choice commentary.

"As expected of our prince."

"That's game. She can't come back from that one!"

"She's a feisty little female, I bet she was good."

"Not even Nappa has the balls to stand up to the prince like she just did!"

"Shut the hell up, Toma!" Nappa growled.

Bulma's skin was so bright red in anger and humiliation at the prince and his subjects' commentary, she thought she'd burn alive from it. She officially hated Vegeta and would have killed him right then and there if she was capable of it. But since she wasn't, she settled for the next best thing. She took off her high heel and threw it at him as hard as she could.

Vegeta dodged it easily and was laughing downright jovially now. He'd won and there was nothing she could say or do about it. "Is it my turn to throw something now, woman?" he taunted her some more, "Here, you left these." He reached into his armor and threw her used panties onto the table, sending the Saiyans into a howling uproar.

"ENOUGH!" King Vegeta screamed as he blasted a hole in the table where Bulma's panties landed, incinerating the garment. "That is enough out of you two," he spat angrily at Bulma and Vegeta, who hardly heard him as they were deadlocked in a stare off. Bulma was so furious, that if she had a significant power level, her aura would have been crackling around her body tumultuously. Vegeta's eyes gleamed in excitement at her murderous expression. Made him feel all tingly inside.

"Vegeta! Brief!" The King finally got their attention that time. He glared pointedly at everyone in the room. "Everyone out," he barked. "Except you two," he directed at Vegeta and Bulma.

"Fun's over," one Saiyan whispered quietly to the Saiyan sitting next to him when the king wasn't looking in his direction. Everyone filed out of the council room until only the king, the prince, and the blue haired scientist was left. Tanka looked back hesitantly before leaving the room, not sure if he should but not wanting to chance attracting the king's anger upon himself.

"I don't know what the hell the deal is between you two-and I don't care-but if you ever make a mockery of my authority like that again, I will end you both," the king swore. "Vegeta, consider your punishment extended now."

The prince's victorious expression melted at that last decree. "But-" Vegeta began his protest only to be cut off as his father moved on to Bulma.

"And you, Brief. You've got spirit, I'll give you that, but you forget your place. Even though you are too pathetically weak do any damage, it is a capital crime to attack a member of the royal family for any reason. You'd better watch yourself, human. Remember, you are not on Earth anymore and I have killed over much less."

Bulma looked down at the floor, petulantly pouting her bottom lip out while Vegeta crossed his arms and stared angrily at nothing.

"Have I made myself clear to the both of you?" the king demanded loudly, angered by their display.

"Yes, sir," they mumbled childishly in unison.

The King shook his head at the pitiful pair and couldn't help but think how frighteningly similar they were to one another. He thought dealing with his son was a trial, but he'd be bald from ripping his hair out in frustration if he had to deal with those two together on a daily basis. "Brief, I will let you know of my decision concerning your planet after I have consulted with my royal council."

Bulma bowed to the king and said, "Thank you for your hospitality while considering my planet as an addition to your empire. We will depart as soon as we learn your decision."

"You're staying," Vegeta announced to the surprise of both the king and Bulma. "I have a feast planned for you earthlings this evening. You can leave in the morning."

"You did what?" his father questioned.

The prince shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. "You're always saying I need to practice being more diplomatic. No better time than the present."

King Vegeta narrowed his eyes suspiciously at his son and he could feel a vein throbbing at the front of his forehead as he just stared at him. "Do what you want, fool," he finally snapped before briskly striding out of the room.

"What do you think you're doing?" Bulma hissed at him fiercely once the king was gone.

"Exactly what I said, woman."

"You can't hold me here! I'm leaving tonight!"

"You will leave in the morning. If you attempt to leave before then the palace guards will thwart you."

"Why are you doing this?" Bulma grieved.

"Because I'm the prince and I do what I want," Vegeta told her simply.

Bulma sputtered in rage at the maddeningly superficial response but couldn't come up with a retort. She couldn't stop him from stopping her from leaving; she hadn't the strength to defy him. She was at his mercy and that was an abominable feeling. Bulma gifted the prince with a look saturated in hatred then stormed out of the room much like the king had done moments before. Vegeta smirked after her before engaging the com link of his scouter.

"Nappa."

"Sire?"

"Instruct the cooks to prepare a feast tonight for the earthlings."

"Wow, Vegeta! You're really going all out!"

The prince chuckled darkly. "Just see to it, Nappa and escort them to the guest chambers. They will be staying overnight."

"Should I take them to separate rooms, or just one room to share?"

"Separate rooms, you idiot," Vegeta growled before disconnecting the link. He was sure he'd end up blasting Nappa into oblivion one day for his idiocy. As if he'd want his woman sharing a bed with another male. _My woman?_ Vegeta questioned himself, a little startled at his sudden possessiveness of her but he quickly recovered when he considered the accuracy of that thought. She _was_ his woman.

For the night.

 **AN: OMG! This was SUPPOSED to be a short little smutty one-shot (2 chapters MAX) and look what happened! I don't know where allll these freaking details came from. Sheesh! But don't be fooled by all the details people, this is still smut with a plot so I'm only planning 2 more chapters and a couple more lemons, hehe;) This was my first time writing a detailed lemon scene, by the way. Anyway, let me know what you think in the reviews, dear readers.**


	3. Chapter 3

Bulma was sitting cross legged on the floor of her new accommodations in the Saiyan palace, violently rummaging through her wardrobe. "I don't have anything to wear to a stupid feast!" she groused, not knowing if she was more upset about having nothing suitable to wear, or the fact that she was being forced to attend. She only packed comfortable clothes for the long journey there and business attire for her presentation, nothing one would wear to a royal feast. Though, since it was a _Saiyan_ royal feast she guessed it didn't require her to get that fancy. She didn't imagine the Saiyans would be dressed in anything other than the armor she'd seen every one of them in since her arrival.

"Why do I even care?" Bulma groaned as she covered her face in her hands. She had more important things to worry about than finding an outfit; she had to find a way to sneak off the planet and get away from _him._ When she and Tanka were allowed to return to their ship to retrieve some belongings, since they were staying overnight, she thought they'd be able to make a run for it but they were under the close watch of the palace guards the whole time. Bulma sighed into her palms, jumping when she heard a sudden knock on the door.

"Royal message," came an unfamiliar male voice from the other side of the door. Bulma rolled her eyes then sprang up from her position on the floor, amongst heaps of clothing, and went to open the door ready to give whoever it was some attitude.

"Yes?" she huffed impatiently to the messenger after she threw open the door with unnecessary force.

"A gift from the prince." The Saiyan presented her with a medium sized box and when she took it from his hands he bowed and left.

Bulma examined the box in her hands briefly, frowning in surprise all the while. It looked and felt like ivory and its smooth surface was decorated with flawless carvings. On the lid was the royal crest of Vegeta, and on the sides, were moons in various lunar phases. She could tell the box itself was expensive, which made her highly curious about what could be inside of it. _A gift, for me?_ The thought was a little too anticipatory for her liking. She would not allow herself to get excited over the prospect of receiving a gift from _him._ Whatever it was, she would send it right back to the jerk. She could not let herself forget that he was, in _fact_ , a jerk. A jerk who tricked her, embarrassed her in front of everyone, and was now holding her hostage. Nothing inside of the box could make the situation, or her opinion of him, better.

When Bulma removed the lid to reveal its contents, she was proven correct.

"Asshole," she muttered down at her so called "gift." Lying on top of red silky lining was her patent leather pump she'd chucked at the prince's head. Bulma tossed the pricey designer shoe over her shoulder carelessly, in favor of focusing her attention on the other item inside the luxurious box. It was a scouter with a blue lens. The lens was blinking with a new transmission notification. Bulma bit her bottom lip in indecision before picking up the device and carefully placing it over her right eye. As soon as she pushed the com link to accept the transmission, her ear was embraced by a deep, sensual timbre.

" _Bul-ma._ "

A kaleidoscope of butterflies manifested in her gut at the sound of his voice and she cursed its sonic allure.

 _Why does he have to say my name like he's having sex with it!_

"What the hell do you want?" She tried her best to sound unaffected and the slow, sexy chuckle she received in return did not help her efforts.

"Well now, you were a lot nicer to me when you thought I was king. Are you disappointed that I turned out to be but a lowly prince?" he mocked playfully.

"You TRICKED me!" Bulma shrieked.

Vegeta winced in pain at the ruthless attack on his sensitive eardrum, but didn't miss a beat. "Not my fault, woman. How could a supposed genius let herself fall for such a simple ruse? Tsk, tsk." After that, he heard some loud, unintelligible growling and the sound of something crashing in the background. The prince grinned widely from his perch on the large stone balcony outside his room, thoroughly enjoying the effect he was having on the blue haired scientist.

Bulma was standing in the middle of her room, chest heaving, with her fists clenched tightly at her sides, and a scowl on her face. The pretty white box was in pieces now on account of her hurling it at the wall with all her might. She was known to have a bit of a temper at times but the Saiyan prince was proving to be especially gifted at stoking it. Bulma wondered how she could have **ever** let that asshole touch her. For however long she lived, she would surely regret that momentary lapse of sanity in the king's study.

"Listen up, buddy! I'm not playing your little game with you anymore," she sneered. "What happened before will _never_ happen again. I don't want anything to do with you so don't even think about trying anything else! You got that, asshole?"

Vegeta leapt to a standing position on the railing of his balcony, now sporting a scowl of his own. "I didn't do anything that you didn't want me to do to you, woman." How dare she blame him for what her body wanted?

"I didn't _ask_ to be molested!" Bulma charged with self righteous indignation.

"Molested?" The prince wasn't familiar with the earthling term.

"Yes, _molested,_ touching someone without permission like you did! You can get sent to prison for YEARS for doing that on my planet!"

The Saiyan was so dumbfounded by her statement it took him several seconds to find his voice before he roared-

"ARE ALL EARTHLING WOMEN AS INSANE AS YOU?!"

"ARE ALL SAIYAN MEN AS PIGHEADED AS YOU?!"

"YOU LIKED WHAT I DID TO YOU JUST FUCKING ADMIT IT, WOMAN!"

"THE ONLY THING I WILL ADMIT IS THAT I FUCKING HATE YOU!"

"YOU HATE ME BECAUSE YOU WANT ME!"

"FUCK YOU! PRINCE OF ALL SCUM!"

The prince exhaled forcibly through his nose and pinched the bridge of it in frustration at the woman's obstinance. Both combatants were breathing heavily as they recovered from their draining screaming interlude. Vegeta was the first to break the impasse.

"Fuck, me?" he said with eerie calm. "Woman, you _ache_ to fuck me. It doesn't matter how much you claim otherwise; your body has already betrayed you and begged for it. But unfortunately for you, I promise on my honor as the Prince of all Saiyans, that I will never touch you with these hands again until you beg for it from your mouth."

Vegeta ended the transmission.

"Yeah right, like that'll ever happen. And he thinks _I'm_ insane?" Bulma ranted to no one, disregarding the chills she felt from the conviction in the prince's voice when he spoke his declaration. She dropped back down to the floor and started pouring over her clothing with renewed vigor, determined to find the very best outfit for the occasion. Bulma couldn't wait to walk into the feast looking like a million zeni and show off to that arrogant son of bitch what he would never have. Hewas going to be the one begging, not her. She smirked victoriously when she finally located the item she was looking for; one of her less conservative options to deliver her presentation in. Then she drew herself a bath in the huge bathtub in her suite and languished in the rich foam for an excessively long interlude. A guard came knocking at her door multiple times to collect her for the evening festivities, but she couldn't hear him over the pop tunes blaring through her headphones. Not that she would have let him to rush her anyway; perfection took time.

When she emerged from the tub she dried off and smothered her body with a decadent skin cream that had a light vanilla fragrance. Then she carefully blew out her hair and let it cascade over one shoulder in soft waves, deciding it wasn't too hot to wear it down since the temperature had cooled significantly as it approached nighttime. The dress she chose was a red, knee length one that was both racer-back and race-front in design, and exposed the skin on the sides of her breasts. Bulma dubbed the dress inappropriate for the meeting because it was too form fitting and revealing, but those cons were mandatory now for what she was aiming to accomplish. She posed in front of a full-length mirror in the bedroom, checking herself out from all sides and smiling in approval at the way the material accentuated every curve. Bulma couldn't resist blowing a kiss to her flawless reflection and saying-

"Eat your heart out, little prince."

* * *

The royal feast was held in the Mångata Hall of the Saiyan palace. The hall was so named because of the unique pattern of the stone floor that selectively reflected the lighting from the ceiling in a way that resembled the glimmering, road-like reflection the moon creates on water. There was one long, massive table running vertically in the middle of the room with the monarchs seated at the head, along with the king's most loyal and trusted adviser, Zorn. Then there were select elite warriors, men and women among them, some of them accompanied by their mates and an uneasy Tanka was seated among them with an empty chair beside him. The rest of the guests at the feast consisted of Saiyan dignitaries.

The only person missing from the table was the other half of the two guests of honor, and an agitated Saiyan prince sat with his arms folded tightly across his chest waiting anxiously for her to arrive. _How dare she be this late! Does she intend not to show?_ Vegeta was too deep in his thoughts to notice his father and Zorn exchange glances at the alarming speed in which his fingers tapped impatiently against his bicep. He was just about to get on his scouter and demand, yet again, for a guard to retrieve her when, at last, Bulma made her entrance.

It robbed him of his breath.

The prince was not alone. All the males in the room were stunned into silent awe at the blue haired woman's beauty. It was obvious to them before that she was an attractive female, even with her hair pulled back tightly into a bun and the shapeless garments she donned upon her arrival, but her current appearance held back nothing from her gorgeousness. Her long, silky, exotic colored hair was hanging freely, and though all her womanly bends and dips and swells were properly covered; the soft, shapely silhouette of it all was on unmitigated display. The bold red color of the dress only added to her appeal and even the way she moved was upgraded.

A stiff backed, conservatively dressed, scientific genius had transformed into a sultry, hip swaying, walking temptation.

Bulma was in her element as she glided into the room, basking in all the attention she was receiving. The fact that she was used to turning heads back on Earth with her beauty didn't make it any less gratifying. She did have to suppress an eye roll though when she saw her assumption that everyone there would be in head to toe armor, was correct. The fashion enthusiast in her was disappointed by that, but she was not disappointed by the look on the prince's face when he saw her. He looked star struck with his eyes wide and mouth gaping open like it was. She shot a wink at him and giggled when his eyes narrowed darkly and his mouth immediately snapped shut in response.

"That arrogant woman," the prince accused under his breath. Though, he had to admit; from head to pretty, pink painted toes, she looked damn good. The heels she wore were much higher than the ones she had on before, and he loved what they were doing for the shape of her legs. It was giving him ideas.

"Dr. Brief, thank goodness you're finally here," Tanka said quietly when Bulma took her seat next to him. His eyes were shifting uncomfortably to his right and Bulma followed his line of sight to a pack of aggressive looking Saiyan women who were eyeing the handsome scientist hungrily.

"What are you waiting for? Go get 'em, Tanka!" Bulma cracked up at Tanka's alarmed look and rested her hand on his shoulder while she attempted to stifle her laughter behind her other hand. She was oblivious to furious black orbs eyeing the innocent contact with extreme distaste.

 _Don't tell me that human is her mate?_ Vegeta wondered as he activated his scouter to get a reading on Tanka's power level. _He is just barely stronger than the woman!_ He realized when a reading of 13 flashed across his right eye. The prince begged to know what on Vegeta was so appealing about a pretty boy weakling as he disgustedly observed how the female Saiyans and Bulma fawned all over him.

Tanka gulped in fear. Unlike Bulma, he was not immune to the malevolent waves of animosity radiating in their direction from the head of the table, accented by murderous eyes burning holes into his soul. He had never been the target of such hatred before, the energy of which he was sure he would be able to feel from two planets away.

"Dr. Brief, there is something I have been meaning to ask you about."

"For the millionth time Tanka, just call me Bulma," Bulma said dismissively as she inspected the spread of food before her. Though Saiyan names reminded her of the names of vegetables grown on Earth, it didn't appear that Saiyans knew what vegetables were. The feast consisted mostly of enormous cuts of meat and she wasn't surprised to see that everyone was just digging in with their hands, no utensils in sight. She settled on munching on the Saiyan version of a dinner roll, which turned out to be pretty tasty.

"Well...about you and Prince Vegeta," Tanka started.

Bulma stopped mid chew and her eyes flashed dangerously to meet Tanka's. "There is no me and Prince Vegeta," she informed him with deadly seriousness.

If he caught the hint he chose not to heed it as he pressed, "But Bulma, did some sort of foul play occur when you were alone with him?" The vibes between her and the prince were concerning. Violent, even. It had Tanka particularly worried about- "How did the prince come in possession of your under-"

"Tanka!" Bulma cut him off before he could finish his awful line of questioning that brought back horrible, unwanted memories. "If you value your job, you will never ask me about that jerk ever again! And it's Dr. Brief to you!" she snapped. But she was instantly regretful when she saw the hurt in the mild mannered man's expression when he nodded and looked away from her. She was being a bitch to a person that had done nothing to deserve it, all because of her anger towards someone else. Bulma kicked herself inwardly for letting the prince get under her skin and cause her to act out of character. But the alien was just somehow able to piss her off like no one else in the _world_ was capable of pissing her off.

"Look, Tanka," Bulma said softly, placing her hand over top of his in a gesture of remorse. "It's not what you think, so don't worry. Let's just enjoy the rest of this adventure. I mean, we're like the first humans in history to travel in space and mingle with aliens! That's really something, huh?" She smiled at him warmly.

Tanka smiled back at her in acceptance of her mea culpa. "Yes it is, Dr. Brief," he agreed.

"Okay but seriously, call me Bulma! Dr. Brief is my father!" Bulma complained playfully and they shared a laugh.

Meanwhile, the blood vessels in Vegeta's eyes were threatening to burst as he watched the humans laughing and touching each other. It sickened him to his core and it took an amount of restraint, he did not know he possessed, not to march right up to them and murder them both. He didn't even realize his fingers were gripping his biceps so tightly that his fingernails were cutting into his skin, drawing trickles of blood. But his father noticed. The entire time, King Vegeta had been surreptitiously observing his son's silent raging and musing about it. Vegeta attempted to straighten up and get himself under control when he finally became aware of the king's eyes upon him.

"Boy."

Vegeta winced at the sound of his father addressing him. He was sure the old man was about to demand an explanation for his present behavior. An explanation he did not have.

"Father?"

"Make the announcement," was all King Vegeta said.

Vegeta nodded with private relief and stood from his chair. At the sight of their prince standing all the Saiyans in the room silenced themselves and waited respectfully for him to speak, as did Bulma and Tanka.

"Bulma Brief," he said, looking directly at Bulma. Bulma met his gaze with determination and willed away the fear that rose up in her chest at the grave atmosphere that had fallen over the once festive room.

"On behalf of the royal house of Vegeta, I, the crown prince of Vegeta, formally grant the request of planet Earth to become an allied member of the illustrious Saiyan Empire; the greatest empire in all of the universe. As long as this unification stands you shall always have the protection of the empire, in exchange for your full cooperation and loyalty to the empire. Do you accept these terms?"

Bulma released the breath she was holding and a gigantic smile commandeered her face as she leapt up from her seat and thrust her index finger towards the prince.

"As an official representative of planet Earth, I, Bulma Brief, President of Capsule Corporation and the most brilliant mind in existence; accept!" Bulma squealed gleefully.

"I'll drink to that!" cried a Saiyan who was already sloshed. A raucous celebratory scene erupted in the hall, more liquor started flowing from jug to goblet and a bunch of warriors got up to dance to the lively Saiyan tunes the royal musicians started playing.

"Cocky ass," Vegeta commented in amusement at Bulma's immodest declaration and sat back down. His anger was forgotten the moment she graced him with that gorgeous, endearing smile of hers. It was the first time she'd ever smiled at him like that and it made his heart lighter in his chest. He knew then that he would have seen to it that her planet was protected even if she had come there and presented his father with something utterly useless. If only just to see that smile.

The prince's brief moment of tranquility vanished when he saw the woman jump into the arms of her scientist companion.

"We did it! We did it, Tanka! Earth is saved!" Bulma hugged him and kissed his cheek, jumping up and down in elation.

Tanka's face reddened in embarrassment at the affection. "I hardly did a thing, Bulma. It was all thanks to your wonderful ideas."

Down the far end of the table, one Saiyan had been watching Vegeta's reactions towards the female scientist from Earth with great interest. He squinted thoughtfully at the clearly enraged prince and an idea formed in his mind.

"Hey, Nappa," Toma called over to the bald Saiyan.

"What?" Nappa barked. He was so annoyed that even though he had gone out of his way not to sit next to the man, he essentially now was since all five chairs between them was vacated by elites who got up to go dance.

"I'm not entirely positive, but I think our prince has gone and caught _it_ _,_ " Toma remarked slyly.

Nappa's eyes bugged out of his head comically as he swiveled toward the other Saiyan, looking at him in horror. "You can't mean..." he gasped, unwilling to finish the question.

"Yep."

"That's just crazy!" Nappa asserted, shaking his head vigorously. He'd almost forgotten whom he was speaking with. Toma was the resident jokester of the Saiyan elite squad. The man was always cracking jokes and saying idiotic things for shits and giggles, he was not a character that should ever be taken seriously.

"Crazy, huh? Wanna bet on it?" Toma challenged.

"How much?" Nappa inquired in a guarded tone.

"800 oru."

Nappa's knee jerk reaction was to balk at the large sum, but then he reminded himself that it was as good as his because there was no way Toma was right about his dumb theory.

"You're on," Nappa agreed.

"Alright, watch this. Keep your eyes on the prince," Toma instructed him before getting up from the table.

Bulma was sitting down now laughing and clapping her hands as she was entertained by the Saiyans' animated dance moves. She was surprised when a tall, very tan Saiyan with a spiky mullet hairstyle strolled up to her and extended his hand down to her.

"Come join the party, Bulma Brief. You're one of us now," Toma invited her with his best smile.

"No way, I can't do that," Bulma laughed, pointing at a couple of Saiyans flipping acrobatically across the dance floor.

Toma glanced where she was pointing and laughed off her protest. "Oh, come on. I've bet you've got some nice Earth moves in you," he said, letting his gaze fall down her body then back up to her eyes.

Bulma raised an eyebrow at him sassily. He was definitely flirting with her. But since he was kind of cute, she shrugged and decided to accept his invitation. "Be right back, Tanka," Bulma threw over her shoulder as she took the Saiyan's hand and let him lead her away.

"Sure thing," Tanka whispered inaudibly, not looking at her. He was looking, in crippling terror, at the expression on Prince Vegeta's face as he watched Bulma's interaction with Toma.

It was an expression Tanka could only describe as being the purest essence of evil.

Vegeta felt his control fleeing fast from him with each second he watched Bulma with Toma. The elite warrior was acting very familiar with her, capitalizing on every opportunity to put his hands where they didn't belong. Vegeta felt like he was being knifed with each undue touch. When Toma held the woman's hand, he felt a stab. When Toma grabbed her by her waist and spun her around in his arms-another stab. When Toma tossed her up in the air and caught her, and Vegeta saw his hands brush against the woman's backside-that was _at least_ three stabs. The motherfucker even had the audacity to run his filthy hands through her hair.

The prince's body was shaking now and he was literally sweating from the taxing effort it took to keep himself contained. His tail was wound so tightly around his waist the force of it would have long crushed the torso of a lesser being. Vegeta blinked at the sweat dripping in his eyes and struggled to clench his teeth together as they had started chattering uncontrollably.

He was at his limit.

Bulma's face was hurting from laughing so hard at Toma's jokes and the thrill of him spinning her around the room and launching her in the air like she weighed nothing. She was having actual fun since the first time she set foot on the planet. After dealing with the stress-worthy pressure of trying to secure an alliance with the Saiyans for Earth, it felt great to cut loose.

"Whoo! Time out, I need a break!" Bulma gasped, out of breath but still smiling as the fast tempo song they were dancing to came to an end.

"Frail little human," Toma teased her good-naturedly.

"You know, you're a pretty wicked dancer, Toma," Bulma answered with a friendly smack on his arm.

Toma stepped back from her and bowed gracefully. "Why, thank-" he started to reply before he was abruptly dispatched by a formidable wave of purple energy.

Bulma gaped in shock when her dance partner was cruelly launched into the opposite wall and his body lodged firmly into the stone. She received a bigger shock when she looked in the direction the attack had come from and saw the prince standing with one arm outstretched, with a wisp of smoke dissipating from his palm.

"What the hell is your problem!" Bulma screeched at him. Vegeta ignored her and continue to glare angrily towards Toma. Some Saiyans ran over to help pry him from out of the wall and Bulma was very relieved when she saw he was able to walk away on his own power, though barely.

"Hey! I said what the hell is wrong with you?" Bulma tried again. "You could have killed him!"

"So?" Vegeta acknowledged her coldly.

"So?" she repeated in disbelief. "He did nothing wrong!"

"He deserves to die."

"For what? Having killer dance moves?" Bulma demanded sarcastically. "What's the matter, princey boy? Jealous 'cause ya got two left feet?"

"What was that, woman?" Vegeta growled.

"Round 2, fellas!" one of the Saiyans who witnessed Bulma and Vegeta go at it the first time at the meeting, chimed excitedly.

"I said, I think you're nothing but a little bully and someone ought to kick your ass!" Bulma hollered, not caring that it wasn't remotely what she'd said, but just wanting to stick it to the rotten prince however she could.

"Okay, if he doesn't kill her _this_ time, I'll eat my armor!" A Saiyan called Brock swore.

"Deal!" someone shouted in reply to Brock.

"Sire?" Zorn ventured to King Vegeta, who was experiencing an awful case of deja vu as he covered his face in his palm and silently counted to ten in every language he knew.

Lest he snap and kill everyone in the room.

"That is it! I have had it with your fucking disrespect, woman!" Vegeta advanced on Bulma with his palm glowing with deadly energy.

"He won't kill her," Toma wheezed, limping up to the group of spectators.

"Did that blast damage your brain, Toma? Look at him go! That's his signature murder face!" his comrade insisted.

"Toma's right," Nappa admitted gruffly to everyone's surprise. To his own surprise. But after what he'd just seen, he couldn't deny the truth; the prince had _it._ He wouldn't be able to kill the woman no matter how much he wanted to.

Though Bulma's brain was imploring her to step, or rather, run away from the homicidal prince who was almost upon her, she found she couldn't move her feet; they were rooted to the spot in fear. He was so close now she could feel the heat from the ball of energy he was holding, on her face. She squeezed her eyes shut and waited for the inevitable to happen, but the inevitable never came. Bulma cracked an eye open and was startled by the sight of the energy in his hand just inches away from it, but she could tell it was notably weaker. The bright purple orb was steady growing smaller and flickering like a light bulb that was about to burn out.

 _He can't do it!_ she realized triumphantly. _Of course he can't kill me. I'm protected now._ She smugly arrived at the wrong conclusion.

"What's the matter?" Bulma taunted experimentally, "Can't do it, can you?"

The prince growled at her furiously, unable to supply a verbal comeback and the energy his hand was trembling to release grew slightly but still flickered uncertainly. Bulma grinned and took a safe step backwards as she started in on him again.

"Come on, _Prince Vegeta,_ aren't ya gonna kill me? We're all waiting." Bulma swept her hand across the room, indicating their audience. At this, the prince glared threateningly at his subordinates and they all avoided his eyes and looked elsewhere, attempting to feign as though they were most certainly _not_ waiting for anything.

"If she lives through this I'm gonna ask her to be my mate, she's legendary," an elite whispered.

"Agreed," several of the onlookers concurred.

"I highly doubt the prince would allow anyone to mate her," cautioned an older warrior .

"You fools! Have you not yet realized what is happening right now?" a Saiyan elder hissed at the men who spoke of mating Bulma.

King Vegeta calmly rose from his chair at that moment and addressed the prince, whose heart was locked in a fierce battle of wills with his killer instincts. "Stop this display at once, Vegeta," the king ordered evenly. "No harm is to come to that woman, she is now a protected member of the Saiyan Empire. You spoke the words yourself." The king graciously gave his son an out.

The energy in Vegeta's palm disappeared. He lowered his hand shakily and stood there fuming at Bulma and silently vowing to wipe the mocking smile off her face. The king narrowed his eyes at the scene. He had a chilling sense of foreboding that this was just one of many such encounters to come between the blue haired scientist woman and his son, and if this is what he could expect to happen each time they met; he did not predict a bright future for his sanity.

"Everyone return to your seats at once!" King Vegeta commanded.

The Saiyans shuffled back to their seats, still gossiping in hushed tones over what occurred. Even the most thickheaded among them had figured out by now what was going on, despite the king's attempt to allow his son to save face. The only ones who remained ignorant of the truth were Bulma and Vegeta. Bulma smiled cockily at the prince and turned to walk back to her seat, only to find herself unexpectedly plummeting to the ground in a face-plant.

From the floor, Bulma's skin was heated from humiliation as the room filled with laughter at her plight. She whipped her head around in the direction of the perpetrator, who had already reclaimed his seat and was smirking vindictively at her.

 _That piece of shit just tripped me!_

She hopped to her feet as fast as she could and was about to stomp over to the prince and attempt to beat him to death until-

"SIT YOUR ASS DOWN, BRIEF!" the King exploded, all the composure he'd struggled to build up beforehand going to waste.

"But did you see what he just-"

"NO MORE!" the king roared at both his son and Bulma. "I HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF YOUR JUVENILE BEHAVIOR!"

Bulma yanked out her chair and sat in it with a huff, miffed that the prince had gotten her into trouble once again.

"Not. Another. Sound. From. Anyone," the livid king grit out painstakingly to everyone present.

From that point on, the feast was not so much a feast anymore as it was an exercise in walking on egg shells so as not to incur the king's wrath. The Saiyans ate quietly with uncharacteristic care, unwilling to make any sudden movements that might lead to any unwanted noises, that might then lead to unwanted death. King Vegeta sat there broiling with rage, his flaming eyes daring anyone to speak or do anything out of turn. One elite involuntarily tested that resolve when some of the wine he was drinking spontaneously entered his trachea, causing him to break out into a loud fit of coughing. "My apologies, my king," the man half choked, half apologized profusely when the king's murderous eyes landed on him. But it was useless as he was mercilessly blasted out of his chair. No one dared get up to attend to the unconscious warrior.

Bulma sulked in her chair doggedly ignoring the prince's intense stare, much to his displeasure. He just continued to stare at her hatefully, yearning for her death-or maybe he wanted to fuck her to death. He was experiencing all sorts of conflicting emotions. He had a strong urge to spill every ounce of her blood and be done with her existence, yet he wanted to possess her soul and become the absolute master over her body. At least one clear desire, pulsing steadfastly through the midst of all his contradictory impulses, was the desire to break her. Vegeta felt something closely resembling a need to do so after she rejected and denied him as if his lust was one sided. He was going to enjoy demolishing the wall of delusion she'd built up in her mind concerning her attraction to him. Starting now.

The blue haired genius jerked in her chair when she felt something tickling her toes. The movement attracted the king's attention upon her, so she quickly straightened up and acted like nothing happened. She did **not** want to end up like that other guy. But- _What the hell was that?_ Then Bulma felt it again, traveling up her left calf. She tried to discretely shake off, whatever it was, away but it was undeterred. When the king wasn't looking she ducked her head underneath the table, determined to catch it in the act, but she didn't see anything. When her head emerged she was greeted by the sight of the king's frightening black eyes focused solely on her. Bulma swallowed fearfully and decided to let it go and that, whatever it was, was just in her mind.

Until, whatever it was, started rubbing against her crotch.

Bulma shot up out of her chair, causing everyone to look at her like she was crazy. "Um, King Vegeta, thanks for the lovely feast, it was an honor. May I be excused?" The words tumbled rapidly from her mouth. After the king gave her a stony faced nod she grabbed Tanka from his chair and drug him out of the room with her. She didn't see the prince vacate the table and follow shortly after. And the prince didn't see the eyes of his father and Zorn following him.

"Your majesty," Zorn addressed his king, "Do you think perhaps the prince has caught-"

"Indeed, I do," the king replied immediately, he did not require to hear the rest to know what Zorn was referring to. He suspected it some time ago but suspicion was graduated to fact in the king's mind now.

His son had contracted _it._

"Slow down please, Bulma!" Tanka tried to convince the mad woman dragging him through the halls of the Saiyan Palace. She already made him go to his room and pack his things so they could leave, but he didn't see how she proposed to actually get away from the crazy strong aliens without discovery.

"No, Tanka! We are leaving tonight!"

"But did something happen back there? Why did you jump out of your seat all of a sudden?"

Bulma scowled in frustration at the innocent question. She couldn't explain what happened back there, all she knew was that somehow it was _his_ doing. Though he was too far away to physically reach her, she had felt _him_ all over her. It was his energy, the same energy she felt when she was alone with him in that office before.

"We can't spend the night here, Tanka, it's too dangerous, trust me," she pleaded with him.

Tanka had no idea of the particular _danger_ Bulma was speaking of, but after witnessing two guys get blown away for no apparent reason, he couldn't dispute that there was an element of danger to their predicament.

"What's your plan?" Tanka asked in defeat.

Bulma was about to admit that she didn't have one, when the Saiyans from the feast came bustling from the other end of the hall chanting, "Eat it! Eat it! Eat it!" Bulma and Tanka ducked behind a corner to avoid being seen.

"Come on, guys, I wasn't serious!" they heard one of the warriors wail.

"A deal's a deal, Brock! Now you've gotta make good on it!"

"Hey, Pota! Onion! Come watch this fool eat his armor!" a Saiyan encouraged some nearby guards to join the party. They happily followed the rowdy group out into the courtyard to see the show Brock was about to put on. Bulma peeked out from behind the corner, and to her amazement, she saw many of the palace guards leave their posts to join in on the fun.

 _This is our chance!_

When the hall was clear of Saiyans Bulma grabbed Tanka's arm and sprinted down the hall towards freedom, or more specifically, the ship bay where her ship was being held. She was crushed when she saw that the entrance was being guarded by two beefy palace guards. Again they quickly hid out of sight at the last minute. Tanka looked at Bulma with an expression that said, "What now?" She racked her brain for a solution. _Dammit, Bulma! You're a genius, think of a way!_ They had no hope of overpowering them-maybe a distraction would work? Bulma was so feverishly engrossed in trying to produce a plan, she was caught completely unawares by some unsolicited input.

"You'll never make it past those two," a voice chided softly in her ear.

The souls of Bulma and Tanka nearly abandoned their bodies at the sight of the prince right behind them.

"Leave," Vegeta ordered Tanka with unmistakable malice, and the scientist did not hesitate for a tenth of a second to do as he was told. Bulma watched in horror as her escape mission accomplice deserted her, then she took one look at the wicked expression on Vegeta's face and decided to follow Tanka's wise example.

She ran like hell.

"Okay, now she's just being completely ridiculous!" the prince seethed after her flailing form.

Bulma ran frantically through the palace halls as fast as her 5 inch stilettos would carry her, searching for a place to hide. She tried several doors along the way, finding them all to be locked so she just kept on running and almost suffered a heart attack when she turned a corner and ran into a huge statue of a ferocious looking ape. Her fear turned into fortune when she discovered the statue was inconspicuously situated in front of an alcove.

Vegeta had no need to use his scouter to track down the woman, her scent was so poignant to his senses that all he had to do was follow his nose. In no time at all he found himself standing in front of the Saiyan palace's prized Oozaru statue. He took a brief moment to derive amusement from the fact that he used to hide behind that same statue as a child to escape his father's punishment for any mischief he'd gotten up to. A regular occurrence in his childhood. The prince easily swept the statue to the side, exposing Bulma crouched down with her fingers over her eyes.

"Found you," Vegeta deadpanned. He rolled his eyes and sighed when the woman scurried out from the alcove, only to take off running again, screaming her head off like she was mentally disturbed.

Bulma felt like she was in a horror movie as she desperately searched for another place to hide from the bad man that was trying to get her. Just as she thought she found another good hiding spot, the prince materialized out of nowhere.

"Found you, again."

She yelped and took off, but everywhere she ran he was there to meet her. Vegeta grinned as he watched Bulma run away from him yet again, for the sixth time by his count, and did not follow after her that time. Bulma stopped and panted in exhaustion when she came to a long hall with a lone door at the end of it. She looked behind her, got encouraged that she did not see the prince chasing her, and used her last wind to book it to that door, praying that it was unlocked. And it was. Bulma rushed inside the room and fumbled with the door lock in the darkness, feeling a rush of relief when she succeeded in locking herself into safety. But her false sense of security was shattered when the room was illuminated by someone flipping on a light switch.

"And now you've found me."

 **AN: All I wanted to do was to write a smutty one-shot, so Vegeta and Bulma could get it on, then all these details kept attacking me out of nowhere! *sobs* Okay, so this story is going to be slightly longer than I originally intended and, sorry for the long wait. Life happens. But, no worries, this story will never go on hiatus or anything. The whole thing is basically already written, in rough form.**

 **Just a few things:**

 **1\. Mångata is a Swedish word that is used to describe; "** the glimmering, road-like reflection that the moon creates on water." **Those are actually not my words. And that is the only time I will ever not use my words. The Kendrick Lamar song reference some of you may or may not have caught, does not count:-)**

 **2.** **Ever wonder how or why your food/drink goes "down the wrong pipe" and makes you choke? Well, I looked it up and your food and drink normally goes down your esophagus but, on the occasions that it feels like it went down the wrong pipe, and you start choking; it's usually because it went down your trachea instead. Just thought I'd share something new I learned while writing this chapter:-)**

 **3\. Don't you just love how Vegeta was all, like, "Just because I can't kill you, doesn't mean I won't trip your ass, woman!" L.O.L.**

 **Okay, I'm done. Review!**


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Sorry for the confusion! (For those of you that already read the original version of this chapter) but I was too hasty in releasing it. I wasn't happy with it so I pulled it and made some significant changes to the middle of the chapter, making this update longer and a bit more eventful. Hope you like it:-)**

The blue haired genius didn't waste any precious time she could be using to escape to turn around and eyeball her pursuer. Her hands instantly flew back to the door lock so she could unlock it and get the hell out of there. She'd barely laid hands on it before something grabbed her by the waist and pulled her away from the door. Bulma was pushed somewhat gently towards a wall, and when she spun around to finally face the owner of the voice that greeted her, she knew that it was his tail that had grabbed her from the way he cockily waved the furry accomplice in the air behind him.

Before Bulma could make another unsuccessful escape attempt, she felt her arms and legs being zapped to the wall behind her. Vegeta had thrown shackles born of his energy at her limbs in movements far too fast for her eyes to detect. He moved to stand about four feet away, arms crossed and smirking at the woman struggling futilely against her binds like an unhinged animal. Bulma generously showered the prince with obscenities as she fought to free herself from the wall.

"Are you quite done being ridiculous?" Vegeta asked once the woman appeared to have tired herself out.

Bulma narrowed her eyes at him, trying her best to look intimidating as she slumped from the wall huffing breathlessly. If not for her shackles she would have belly flopped on the floor. Once she regained some breath she righted herself and took notice of her surroundings for the first time. Her gut clenched when she realized that she was in a grand bedroom decorated in hues of black, gold and navy blue-a bedroom fit for a prince. And behind him was the biggest bed Bulma had ever seen.

"Are you going to rape me?" Bulma gasped in realization.

Vegeta gifted her with his stalest expression out of his arsenal of stale facial expressions and didn't bother to dignify the question with a response. He knew that if he did take her by force there would be nothing but screams of pleasure resounding in the room, identical to the ones she let off in his father's study. Hardly rape. But doing things that way would create an avenue for her to absolve herself of her role as a willing participant, and she'd use it as another excuse to deny her feelings. He refused to give her anymore excuses. Vegeta began removing one of his gloves.

"I thought you said you wouldn't ever touch me again?" Bulma reminded him as she observed the action warily.

"I recall perfectly what I said." He did not look at her as he spoke, his eyes were focused on the marble sized ball of energy being produced in the middle of his palm. More than enough for what he intended. The prince concentrated on dispersing that energy as tiny ropes in various directions across his palm, letting them criss-cross over themselves until he created something resembling a spider web that covered his entire hand. The more powerful you were, the more discipline it required to deliberately manipulate such a small amount of energy. If he put too much into it he could easily injure a weak creature like the human female in front of him.

"I couldn't help but notice earlier how much you seem to enjoy my energy," Vegeta remarked conversationally, his gaze still on the web of energy in his hand. Bulma knit her eyebrows in confusion and was about to ask what he was talking about, when the prince held his palm out towards her and fired the glowing purple energy web at her chest. She squeezed her eyes shut bracing herself for burning pain that was sure to follow, but instead she felt something far and away from pain. Bulma opened her eyes and looked down to see the web clinging to her body, spreading all over her. The threadlike strings were pulsating up and down her body rhythmically. Bulma inhaled sharply when they began vibrating over her nipples, she could feel the sensation vividly through her bra. The same sensation she kept feeling at the feast.

Vegeta crept closer to the woman with his tail wagging behind him eagerly. The way she was responding to his essence roaming over her body was turning him on. It was almost like watching himself touch the woman. "Feels good, doesn't it?" the incited prince purred.

Bulma frowned, struggling not to let her face portray the pleasure his energy was illiciting in her. "What is this? Some kind of trick?"

"It's no trick, it's proof," he laughed.

"Proof of what?" Bulma practically snarled.

"Proof that you want me."

Bulma shook her head. "No, this doesn't prove anything, it's just one of your tricks."

"Woman, if you weren't attracted to me you would be repulsed by my energy caressing you so intimately, you might even feel pain. But you're not. Because you want me. Say it." He directed the wandering energy to concentrate on taking the southern route on her body.

Bulma bit her bottom lip in an effort to suppress her moan and shut her eyes tightly. "No." She shook her head in defiance trying to resist showing any open enjoyment. Vegeta growled and increased the intensity of the energy slightly, causing Bulma let go of the moan she was holding in and start rubbing her thighs together to alleviate the insistent throbbing between her legs. She was secretly glad her hands and legs were bound, because if not for her restraints, she might have already given into the devil prince.

Vegeta was inching closer still to the woman, willing himself not to break his promise and touch her. He was actually starting to become jealous of his own energy. "Just give in," he urged her. The scent of her arousal filling the room was beginning to destroy his resolve. __She's so wet right now, I know she is!__ It was so obvious that she wanted him just as bad as he wanted her, if only she would stop fighting it so they could reap the benefits of the ridiculously strong attraction between them together. Naked. In his bed.

"I can't," Bulma whimpered, on the verge of orgasm. She didn't know whether to feel thankful or upset when Vegeta pulled his energy away from her and the stirrings of her climax retreated.

"Why not? Why can't you?" he asked her in a voice that came out sounding perilously close to whining.

She lowered her eyes not wanting to disclose the true reason. Besides how frightening it was that she could feel such powerful emotions for a total stranger within minutes of meeting him, there was another reason holding her back.

"Is it because of that human you came with? Is he your mate?" Vegeta tried, already deciding that if the answer was yes, he had no choice but to kill him immediately.

Bulma looked up in surprise at the question. It caught her off guard and hit a little too close to home. "No," she whispered, dropping her eyes again in shame.

"Then what?" Vegeta pressed again.

Bulma chewed at her bottom lip, conflicted over whether or not she should just come clean. Maybe if she did he'd give up and let her go, and she could avoid feeling any more guilty about everything than she already did. She sighed and reluctantly met the prince's demanding gaze.

"I-"

Vegeta's scouter went off then. The prince growled at the interruption and turned away from her. "What is it Nappa?"

"Rank challenge, sire."

"Who is it?"

"Bardock."

Vegeta snorted softly at that. __Took him long enough__. "Where?"

"The courtyard."

"Fine. Might as well have it now," he looked over his shoulder at the frustrating woman, "I've got time." And with that, he left the room.

"Hey! Where do you think you're going, jerk!" Bulma shouted at his back, pulling at her energy binds in vain.

Vegeta didn't acknowledge the irate woman, he thought he'd give her some time to cool off. Frankly, he needed the time more for himself. She was being especially stubborn, and at this rate, he was going to cave in and go back on his promise. He was determined to break her and make her own up to her desires one way or another.

He swiftly made his way out into the palace courtyard where a large group of warriors were waiting for him. It was mostly the Saiyans that had been present at the feast, but also a number of others that weren't, including Bardock. He was surprised it had taken the man this long to go for a rank challenge. The older Saiyan was very vocal about his gripes with the class system on Vegeta, arguing that your class should not be permanently determined by your power level at birth. So the prince created a new law where lower class Saiyans could change their ranking by defeating higher ranking Saiyans. The lower class would obtain the ranking of the warrior they defeated, and the higher ranking warrior would be demoted to the class of the victor. But ranking battles had to be approved and officiated by either the king or himself in order to be valid, and a new ranking legitimately obtained.

The Class Exchange Law was working out well on the planet so far. The prince found it encouraged his men to stay abreast of their training because no one wanted to suffer the embarrassment of having to surrender their ranking to a lower class warrior-plus the fights made for good entertainment. Vegeta clasped his hands behind his back and strode towards the group of men, pausing for a moment to raise a quizzical brow at the sight of a half naked Brock dry heaving across the lawn, before continuing on and stopping in front of Bardock.

"So who will be your opponent for this rank battle, third class?" Vegeta asked condescendingly.

To his credit, Bardock did not allow his displeasure with the blatant slight to appear on his features. He was too confident that after this no one would ever be able to refer to him as a third class again. "I challenge Choy."

"Do you accept, Choy?" the Prince asked the other man, even though it was a given. No Saiyan would ever disgrace themselves by refusing a rank challenge, they'd become a laughing stock on the planet. Backing out of a rank challenge was even more humiliating than losing one. Choy, a towering Saiyan elite, with the sides and back of his head shaved around a ponytail at his crown that extended down to his tailbone, stepped forward and confirmed his acceptance.

"Then we start now," Vegeta announced and walked away from the group. Everyone except Bardock and Choy followed and stood on either side of the prince when he stopped a good distance away, creating a sideline to watch the two warriors. The prince waited until the fighters got into their fighting stances before shouting, "Begin!"All the spectator consulted their scouters as the fighting commenced to see who was most likely to emerge victorious.

"Choy's at 5,700," Nappa reported neutrally.

The scouter reading of Bardock's energy garnered a decidedly more spirited reaction. No one was expecting to see that his power level was-

"It's over 9,000!" someone exclaimed.

It was a short battle.

The prince approached the victor afterwards, none too pleased. He wanted to get his hands on Bulma's gravity invention now more than ever, he couldn't have any more third classes creeping up from behind, thinking they could surpass him someday.

"Congratulations, Bardock," Vegeta said stiffly. "Welcome to the elite squad."

"Thank you, my prince." Bardock bowed and resisted the urge to smile at him.

"How nice for you and Kakarot to have finally escaped the curse of third-class hood, rightly bestowed upon you at birth," Vegeta commented flippantly.

Bardock blinked in surprise. "My son? What of my son? He lives?"

"Oh, so no one has told you yet?" Vegeta remarked cryptically.

"My prince, if you have information about Kakarot, please share it with me," Bardock appealed anxiously and bowed again.

Vegeta circled him with his hands clasped behind his back, looking down his nose at the man and feigning like he was in the midst of careful consideration. "He lives," Vegeta confirmed, completing his circle and coming to a stop in front of him. Bardock looked up at him in shock with more questions on his lips, but the prince continued on before he could voice them. "Kakarot failed his first mission and has been living on the planet he was supposed to purge as one of them. He managed to lose his memory and had no idea he was a Saiyan, until recently. He doesn't even know his true name." Vegeta was more than happy to relay the information about Kakarot contained in the briefing he received prior to Bulma's visit-that he'd finally gotten around to reading.

Bardock's jaw went slack. It was a lot to take in. He assumed his son was dead when he never returned but this was kind of worse. "No way!"

"Way," Vegeta assured. "He calls himself _Goku_."

"And he lost his tail!" someone offered from the sidelines nastily then everyone started joining in with jokes at Bardock's expense, and the glory of his rank battle victory was lost in the embarrassing news about his son.

"You said you wanted to know." Vegeta shrugged in mock innocence at the demoralized Saiyan. Bardock grit his teeth and excused himself as respectfully as he could before angrily taking to the air. Vegeta watched his flight for a few seconds, satisfied that he'd brought the warrior down a few notches, then turned to go back inside the palace, but he was held up by someone calling his name. The muscles in his back tensed at the owner's voice as he halted his steps. "What?" he snapped, not bothering to face him.

Toma knelt to the grass, ignoring the pain in his ribs dealt by the prince's attack at the feast, and bowed his head. "My prince, please accept my deepest apologies for intruding upon your chosen mate earlier."

Vegeta whirled around faster than Toma could see and yanked him up by the front of his armor. "Your little __jokes__ are going to cost you your life today, funny guy," Vegeta spat venomously in his face, making it clear that he didn't find him the least bit funny. By this time, the Saiyans who were caught up in ridiculing Bardock for having a disgrace of a son, had fallen into an uncomfortable silence over the exchange between the prince and Toma.

"It's no joke sire, I am truly sorry," Toma insisted.

"So those are your last words then? Fine by me!" Vegeta shouted before he started gathering enough energy in his free hand to bring his life to conclusion.

"Prince Vegeta," Nappa interrupted Toma's demise, hardly believing he was about to speak on behalf of a man he couldn't stand for the second time that day.

"I'm busy sending this waste of space into the afterlife, Nappa, it'll have to wait."

Nappa sighed. "But, my prince, surely you must have realized by now that you've caught-"

"If you wish to die too then, by all means, finish your statement, Nappa!" The prince tossed Toma to the ground and aimed the lethal energy at Nappa now. Nappa shut his mouth then but the look in his eyes told it all. Vegeta took a glance at the other warriors around him and recoiled in angry surprise when he saw they were all looking at him with the same expression Nappa wore.

Sympathy.

"Don't tell me you all agree with these two fools?" Vegeta questioned defensively. His fury magnified when they all kept quiet and awkwardly avoided making eye contact with him. "She is nothing to me!" Vegeta screamed, the unstable ball of energy crackling fiercely in his hand. "She is just a plaything! A mere toy for my amusement! I am the Prince of all Saiyans, I would never fall prey to that weakling affliction!"

A particularly brave Saiyan elite called Squaz stepped forward. "Your majesty, if you do not wish to mate the female then do you mind if I do?"

"What?" was all a stunned Vegeta could manage to rasp out in response to the question that had sent something akin to a bolt of lightening through his system.

"Well actually," Choy stepped forward, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly, "I wanted to ask permission to mate her myself."

The prince stared at Choy incredulously.

"As if she'd want you! _Third class._ " Squaz rubbed salt in Choy's fresh wound.

"Let's have a rank battle right now and see who's really the third class, Squaz! You know I'm stronger than you!" Choy returned angrily.

"Settle down, losers. If anyone is going to mate her, it's going to be me." A cocky Saiyan called Aspargon joined the fray, sparking proclamations from other warriors trying to lay claim to Bulma.

Vegeta stood frigidly with his ball of energy still in hand, gawking at the quarreling men in disbelief. He felt like he was having an out of body experience, the situation felt so surreal. But he was brutally thrust back into reality when he heard one of them yell-

"Bulma's mine!"

The declaration inspired a spastic twitch in his left eye and his molars clenched together severely. "None of you are going to mate her!" the prince barked at the men, who were just about to come to blows over the dispute.

Bulma's would-be prospects halted in place and looked at each other in confusion.

"So then you _are_ going to mate her, Prince Vegeta?" one of them asked.

"No, idiot!" he snapped.

"Then...why can't we?" Aspargon was the one to voice the question on the tip of everyone's tongue.

The prince spent several moments seething in silence as they looked to him expectantly, with their irritatingly accusing eyes, wanting to know why they couldn't mate Bulma. The thought of any of them being with the woman set his blood sizzling and bubbling like acid in his veins. It was burning up his insides as it coursed through him with vigorous force, fueled by his anger. Unconsciously, the turbulent energy in his hand grew bigger and his aura flared up and started whipping around him haphazardly. "You dare...question...your prince?" Vegeta grit out, his countenance darkening nightmarishly. The energy in his hand kept on growing and his feet levitated from the ground.

"His murder face!" someone cried in panic below the rapidly ascending prince.

"I see it's high time I reminded you all of your place!" Vegeta roared down at them from his lofty position in the sky, and the already imposing ball of sinister energy expanded to twice it's previous size.

"RUN!"

The Saiyans scattered, some on the ground, some taking to the air as their prince rained hell down on them. His giant Galick Gun attack fire-worked dazzlingly through the night sky and hurtled to the ground without rhyme nor reason. No one was safe. Warriors who took flight were swatted down like flies by the purple beams of wrath, and reduced to laying brokenly in the craters produced by the force of their bodies crashing to the ground. The ones who chanced escaping on foot met a similar fate, either being struck deep into the earth or sent flying across the palace grounds by the impact of the monstrous assault.

* * *

Inside the Saiyan palace, King Vegeta paused in his conversation with Zorn to take note of the rumbling of explosions he heard outside the walls. "What in the hell is that?" the king wondered with mild concern, he knew it couldn't be an invasion. No one was powerful enough or foolish enough to invade them, but he would have already been alerted if that was the case.

"I believe there is a rank challenge taking place in the courtyard," Zorn offered.

King Vegeta sighed, wondering now if he had overindulged his son by letting him have his law. The high volume of impromptu battles were beginning to become troublesome. _That boy_...he shook his head and complained internally but verbally expressed, "Go on with what you were saying, Zorn."

The closest adviser to the King of the Saiyans paced for a few moments in the king's private study before continuing on, "Their union could be very advantageous. What Bulma lacks in strength, she more than makes up for with her intellectual power. In that respect, she is unrivaled."

"That is true," the king agreed. He had absorbed the technologies of many races within his empire, but none as brilliant and groundbreaking as what the Brief woman offered. And he was sure he had yet to see the full extent of her genius.

"And the prince is strong-stronger than us all-he has the potential to become a Super Saiyan someday. That gives me reason to believe his Saiyan blood may dominate her weak human blood and produce a powerful heir."

" _If_ her race is genetically compatible." The king brought up a vital point. There were no known Saiyan half-breeds in the universe. So far, Saiyan DNA did not seem to be compatible with any race besides their own.

"Yes," Zorn conceded, "But, sire, the humans resemble Saiyans more closely than any other race we have seen. The only thing they lack is our strength and a tail."

The King sighed at his desk again, and massaged his eyebrow with his index and middle finger as he thought about how his people might react to a foreign queen. It was unprecedented. The Saiyans had tremendous pride in being Saiyan and prized strength above all else. Bulma didn't posses either of those qualities. Though, if the talk around the kingdom was any indication, his people did admire her for having the guts to go head to head against the notoriously temperamental prince-not once, but twice-and coming away unscathed. Also unprecedented. That he did not make a serious attempt on the woman's life at the first incident, was the thing that initially tipped the king off that something was amiss with his son.

But would the scientist's courage and intellect be enough to win the people of Vegeta over? And there was still the all important issue of whether or not they would be able to conceive. The prince absolutely had to produce an heir. There were so many variables to consider and it was starting to give the king a headache. "We will just have to wait and see how the situation progresses, Zorn. And there is no telling how long we will have to wait to see."

Zorn looked at his king in surprise. "You think the prince will try and resist it?"

King Vegeta looked at his confidant with a deadpan expression that screamed, "Are you fucking kidding me?"

"Forgive me, my king. I almost forgot who we were speaking of," Zorn chuckled at his folly. The prince's stubbornness was legendary.

The king had to chuckle as well before clearing his throat and announcing, "Now onto the matter of Kakarot..."

* * *

Outside the palace walls, some three dozen bodies were scattered on the grounds, unmoving. Save for one. Nappa strained to pull himself up into a sitting position from inside of his own personal crater. The hulking warrior eventually got to his feet and floated up out of the hole to scan his surroundings. The prince was gone. Nappa flew shakily over the fallen warriors until he located the one he was looking for. He dropped down into the crater he was lying in, almost falling over himself in his injured state, and hauled the man up by the front of his armor much like Vegeta had done before.

"You son of a bitch! You nearly got us all killed!"

"Me?" Toma protested weakly.

"Don't play innocent with me!" Nappa warned. "You don't know when to quit, do you? You're lucky to be alive after that stunt you just pulled!" He couldn't believe the incorrigible jokester was bold enough to draw the topic of the prince's condition out into the open like that. It was not a wise move.

Toma shrugged as much as he could in his current position. "What can I say?" he wheezed with a crooked smile, "I'm quite dedicated to mischief."

"You'd better be more dedicated to getting off of Vegeta's shit list, because you're definitely on it now!" Nappa growled and lanced him into the wall of the crater.

"Nappa," Toma coughed out just as the bald warrior was about to take flight. "800 oru, don't forget," he reminded him in a sing-song voice.

Nappa whirled around and reached into the fresh hole he just made, to grab Toma out of it by the neck, and punched his lights out.

* * *

Vegeta was ascending the stairs towards his room, every one of his muscles tight with anger as he mentally rehashed the events after the rank battle; What Toma had said. What Nappa had wanted to say. The looks of pity they all gave him like he was the victim of some terrible disease that had no cure. The uncontrollable rage he felt when they were declaring their desire for Bulma. And three choice words from his memories replayed over and over in his mind.

… _ _your chosen mate...__

 _ _...your chosen mate...__

 _ _...your chosen mate...__

"They must think me some sort of weakling if they think I have-, that I could ever catch-" He reduced a spherical staircase post cap at the top of the stairs into dust with his fist and roared out in frustration. Vegeta was too incensed to successfully articulate the rest, it was too ludicrous for words. What they alleged went far beyond just mating the woman-they were talking about forever. And they all needed mental evaluations if they thought he had any use for the woman other than carnal enjoyment. It was all a game to him with women and he'd had hundreds-possibly thousands-and he'd tossed every single one of them to the wayside when he was finished with them-and he was always finished with them right after he finished in bed. Bulma Brief would have been no exception.

She was just a toy like all the rest.

But it royally pissed him off that the fools thought they could have his toy before he was finished playing with it. He was certainly done now though. All he wanted was to play around with the fetching human, get his fill of her, then send her back where she came from, but then everyone had to go and spoil it for him. It was all fun and games until those idiots just had to go and bring talk of eternal commitment into the equation. Vegeta wanted none of it. He wouldn't tolerate the mere __suggestion__ that he wanted it. The prince wasn't pleased with what he was about to do now, but the situation as is was unacceptable to him. He was no weakling, and the thought of anyone thinking him a weakling on her account was enough to effectively squelch his desire for her to submit to him.

The woman had to go.

* * *

"I have to pee," Bulma announced as soon as Vegeta burst into the room close to an hour after he left her.

The prince waved away her restraints and walked past her without looking at her. "Go do it in your own chambers then. Get out of my sight."

Bulma's jaw fell open. She didn't really have to pee, she was just planning to use it as a ploy to escape, but the pretty solid escape plan she cooked up while he was gone turned out to be a big waste of time as now her captor was telling her to _leave?_ The unexpected turn of events inspired an odd feeling in her-something that suspiciously resembled disappointment. Bulma's voice of reason was telling her she should flee from the lion's den before the lion changed his mind, but instead she found her hands flying to her hips and her mouth demanding-

"Excuse me?"

The volatile prince rounded on her aggressively and yelled in her face, "Get the hell out of my room before I throw you out! I've already given clearance for your ship to leave, take it and run back to your damn planet!" He turned his back on her, thinking that would be the end of it.

Bulma's blue eyes ignited with flames of anger and her hand whipped up into a halting motion in the air. "Wait just a minute, you ass! You've been sexually harassing me since the moment I arrived here! You lied about who you were to try to get me to sleep with you, you forced me to spend the night here and you-, you literally hunted me down and freaking CHAINED me to the wall and violated me with your freaky energy voodoo, and now you're telling _me_ to leave _you_ alone?!"

She was livid. He put her through hell the whole time she was there, thwarting all of her attempts to get away from him and acting like a total stalker, and he was giving __her__ the boot now? If anyone should be giving anyone the boot, she should definitely be the one giving it. Bulma knew she should just cut her losses and be grateful the prince was letting her go, but right now she was mostly preoccupied with feeling incredibly insulted by his callous dismissal of her.

Vegeta smacked his forehead with his palm and dragged his hand down the length of his face in frustration. When he pursued the woman she ran away like an insane person, desperate to get away from him-but now that he was letting her go, he couldn't get her to leave! Women, regardless of what planet they were from, had no clue what they wanted and were universally crazy. He purposely ignored Bulma's raving and unclipped his cape from his armor, then started removing his boots.

"Wha-, what are you doing?" Bulma stuttered out in alarm as the prince kept getting more and more naked. She blushed and looked away when she got an eyeful of his sculpted tanned ass after he dropped his bodysuit to the floor. Bulma had no idea why she was still standing there, or how exactly the simple action of moving her feet transformed into a daunting task.

Vegeta went over to his dresser and pulled out a loose pair of shorts and slipped them on. "I'm going to bed. What does it look like I'm doing?" He left the dresser and walked up to the frozen scientist. "So, unless you plan on being my whore for the night, I suggest you leave right now," he sneered down at her. His cruel words brought her out of her stupor and her next action was one of pure reflex. He saw her pathetically weak slap coming at him like it was a slow motion sequence and he did nothing to stop it. Even though he barely felt it, and he'd probably been dealt more pain by insect bites in his life, it rose his hackles that she had the gall to do it. No woman ever dared to strike him before.

The smoldering look on the prince's face after she hit him struck fear into the heart of Bulma. The scientist belatedly attempted to take him up on his offer of escape and made a beeline for the door. He graciously allowed her to succeed in opening it, and even getting a leg out in the hallway, before he yanked her back inside the room, slammed the door shut again and thrust her back against it. Vegeta planted his hands on the door on either side of her head, caging her in with his sinewy arms, and leaned in to murmur huskily into her right ear, "I believe my father warned you about attacking members of the royal family, woman." He stood as close to her as possible without letting any part of his body come into contact with hers.

Bulma's body started tingling all over due to the lack of distance between them. His breath enveloping her ear warmed her entire body from the inside out, and her heart was pounding worryingly fast. She swallowed to get some moisture into her mouth that had gone dry and licked her lips. From the side of his eye Vegeta stared intently at those petals of softness, wanting to taste them again. But he would not permit himself to make another advance on the woman. He swore to himself that he was done with her, even as he continued to block her exit and lightly sniffed her hair.

"I could have you executed for this or locked up for the rest of your days. You do realize this is grounds to void the agreement with Earth? You've single-handedly put your whole planet in jeopardy," he threatened softly.

"You wouldn't," Bulma barely whispered.

Vegeta leaned back from her ear and brought his face down directly in front of hers. "I would," he whispered just as barely, a hairsbreadth away from her lips. Though his words heralded her doom, his seductive tone of voice washed over her lovingly as if he were telling her sweet nothings instead. Bulma's brain could hardly recognize the difference at this point. Logic was no match for the undeniable force of passion hurricaning between them right now, swiftly dismantling her ability to think. So she did the unthinkable.

She kissed him.

 **AN: Thanks for all the reviews so far! I love reading and appreciate every one of them!**

 **About the coming chapters...I trust you've all heeded my multiple warnings about what kind of story this is, yes?**

 **;-)**


	5. Chapter 5

**WARNING: Reader discretion is suuuuppperrr advised.**

Vegeta expected Bulma to run again. Unlike her feeble slap, he did not see this hungry kiss coming. He reveled in the novelty of her pursuing him for a change, and her soft hands rubbing his body. They imprinted a warm, urgent sequence on his chest that slid down over the ripples of his abdomen and into the waistband of his shorts. Vegeta sighed in Bulma's mouth when her fingers gripped his steely erection and stroked it firmly. The gratification he hoped to attain the moment she finally gave in to him surpassed imagination, it took all of his self control not to reciprocate her lusty proposition. He broke their kiss when she started to pull his shorts down.

"Take off your dress," Vegeta commanded.

Bulma unzipped and slid the material down the length of her body, revealing a black, strapless satin bra and matching thong. She stepped out of the dress when it hit the floor and was interrupted by the prince when she bent over to unbuckle the straps of her stilettos. "Leave them on," Vegeta purred. He had been wanting to fuck her in those heels from the moment she strut into the feast wearing them.

The words barely left his lips before Bulma's lips were on them again. She couldn't help herself, kissing him was brain melting. Bulma didn't take note that Vegeta had yet touch her, she was wrapped up in the euphoria compelling her. It was incomparable how much she wanted this man, the desire he inspired within her was consuming. All her efforts to resist it-the running, the arguing, the denial-were failures, each time she fought it, it grew stronger. So she surrendered, in the battle she wasn't equipped to win, with a kiss, and being a loser was never such a turn on. Bulma's movements became more insistent as she backed Vegeta towards the bed and he didn't hold back his look of amusement when he let her push him down onto the plush surface. He crawled backwards onto the bed to get a better position on it and Bulma crawled forward with him, plopping on his lap and straddling his hips when he laid down on his back.

Bulma fell forward onto the prince, branding him with wet kisses on his mouth, his jaw, and neck. Vegeta's fingers gripped the covers at his sides when she grinded against him while licking the contour of his ear. Bulma pulled his hands to wrap them around her waist only for them to fall back down lifelessly to the bedspread. After she tried again and got the same result she sat up and looked down at the prone prince questioningly beneath her. The Saiyan got a kick out of the way her features were set in a demanding pout, like a spoiled child being told "no."

"What's wrong?" she asked.

Vegeta lifted his arms from the bed and folded them behind his head, looking like the picture of relaxation when he responded with, "Have you forgotten my promise already?"

Bulma groaned loudly out of sexual frustration-and plain old frustration-as she recalled his words from their scouter conversation. When he made his stupid promise to never touch her again unless she begged him to, she didn't foresee herself wanting him to break it as badly as she did right now. But she wasn't about to beg for it. Bulma ignored his noncooperation and reached for his waistband, dying to reveal what was straining to break free of his shorts. Before she could her wrists were seized and she was jerked down to the prince's level, nose to nose with him, sharing the same breath, with her hair water-falling around their faces.

"Is this what you want?" Vegeta lifted his hips and pressed himself tightly against the apex of her thighs for emphasis. He could feel the moisture that was leaking from her entrance seeping into the fabric of his shorts.

"Yes," she moaned and squeezed her eyes shut in ecstasy as he continued to create friction between them. God, did she want it.

"Then beg for it. Tell me how much you want my cock."

Bulma's eyes flew open in surprise at his words, but it wasn't the words that startled her so much as how much she wanted to obey them. She shook her head in defiance.

"Don't be afraid, woman. Let me show you the pleasure of submission."

His voice wound seductively around her, filled to capacity with unspoken, sinful promises. She realized he was right; she was afraid. Her shallow surrender was not enough, he wanted her to completely submit herself to his mercy. That was scary-and would it even be worth it? His lusty, dark eyes swore to her it would, but she was unsure. However, it was too late for her turn back now. She was in so deep she was drowning and he was the only lifeguard that would do. "Please," Bulma whispered. The single word spurred the Saiyan into action. It didn't fully fulfill his requirement, but it was a good enough start because keeping his hands off her was tortuous not only to the her, but to himself. He released Bulma's wrists so that she was leaning over him with her hands braced on either side of his head, then he tore open her bra and latched onto the glorious breasts dangling over his mouth. He ripped her satin thong away next so there was no obstruction to him reaching down to penetrate her with his finger. She bit her bottom lip and whined lowly in her throat as she moved up and down it eagerly.

Vegeta paused his ministrations to remove his finger from her, and Bulma watched in fascination as he put that finger drenched in her juices into his mouth and sucked it off. The visual made her core throb harder. An instant later, Bulma found herself face down on the bed with her ass in the air and one of his hands pressing onto her back. She panted heavily in anticipation when she felt the head of his erection brushing against her swollen lips from behind. Her breathing only became heavier as he kept teasing her with his tip without entering her. When Bulma couldn't take it anymore she futilely attempted to push against his strong hand that was holding her down.

"Vegeta," she pleaded.

Vegeta smacked her ass hard and said, " _Prince_ Vegeta," Bulma yelped at the unexpected spanking. "Say it," he ordered her, and spanked her again, causing her to cry out in a mix of pain and pleasure. The force of each impact sent stimulating vibrations between her legs and she wanted more of it. The prince gave her another smack harder than the previous ones when she still failed to address him by his proper title.

"Prince Vegeta!" she finally obeyed. Her submission turned the prince on to a height he never knew before. He was used to having his way with women and easily getting them to do whatever he wanted, but hearing this extremely stubborn woman who had been resisting him at every turn, and was trying to resist him even now, submit to him, was the ultimate satisfaction. He needed more of it. Vegeta gripped his heavy cock and guided it into her waiting entrance, hissing in pleasure at how amazingly wet she was for him. He had to pause to calm himself down because she felt so good he almost came immediately. It was an unprecedented feeling that both alarmed and excited him. After he got a hold of himself Vegeta entered her with deliberately shallow thrusts. Bulma writhed and mewled wantonly in his grasp, attempting to push him deeper insider her.

"V-, Prince Vegeta, stop teasing me!" She was losing her mind.

He granted her request, submerging his full length within her, and she gripped the sheets and cried out at the intimidating size of him stretching her. Then he completely removed himself from her, followed by some of her leaking moisture. The prince watched the liquid run down the inside of her thigh.

"Woman, how is your pussy so fucking wet?" he breathed in awe before he bent down to lick up the trail.

"Vegeta, please," Bulma whimpered.

"Prince Vegeta," he corrected and bit her ass cheek, still red and sore from being spanked, as punishment.

"Prince Vegeta," Bulma quickly amended breathlessly. She hated how pitiful she sounded but her need for him overruled her pride.

Vegeta lifted her upper body from the bed so that her back was flush against his chest. One of his hands squeezed her breast while the other massaged her clit. "Tell me how bad you want to cum on my cock, Bulma," he said in her ear.

"Yes, fuck me now, I want your cock so bad!" Bulma wailed, at her wits end.

Vegeta rubbed her slippery bud more vigorously. "You didn't say please."

Bulma threw her head back against his shoulder and moaned loudly. "Please! Prince Vegeta, please fuck me now!" she screamed.

The prince pushed her back down onto all fours and penetrated her with one powerful stroke. Bulma screamed again in pleasure at the sudden intrusion and from the delightful feeling of being stuffed to the max by his warm and rigid thickness. Vegeta started pumping in and out of Bulma at an agonizingly slow pace with a pained expression on his face.

 _Fuck, she's so fucking tight and wet. Shit._

"Harder, please, stop teasing me," Bulma urged him.

Vegeta growled at her, he actually didn't intend to tease her this time. Again he felt like cumming as soon as he got inside of her and he was trying his best to hold back his release. It was incredible what she was doing to him, he'd never felt like cumming so soon and of course he couldn't let that happen. It would be an insult to his manhood. He pushed her legs further apart with his knees to ease up some of the tightness. He only had this one night to do everything he wanted to do with her, and he planned to have her screaming his name for the entirety of it. Vegeta roughly grabbed a fistful of Bulma's hair and started fucking her hard, just as she asked.

Bulma held tightly to the sheets as she was rode hard by the Saiyan. Her mouth was agape in silent ecstasy as his big cock rampaged her slick walls. She felt close to cumming until they abruptly changed positions, now she was on her back with her legs spread so wide, her high heels were touching the bed on either side of her head. She thanked God for her flexibility before Vegeta started driving into her again with long, deep strokes as he pinned her ankles down to the bed.

With her torso bent so close to her face, Bulma had a prime view of Vegeta's glistening shaft going in and out of her, and his rocky abs flexing with his every movement. The erotic view, combined with the pleasures he was inflicting upon her, were steadily pushing her toward her peak. She whined sharply each time he forcefully submerged in her, almost too deep for her to handle. Vegeta clenched his teeth trying to maintain control over himself as he gazed down at the rousing beauty beneath him. The sexy faces she made as she was enjoying his cock inside of her. Her long blue hair splayed wildly on the bed. Her ample breasts bouncing up to her chin from the impact of him fucking her good and hard. It was perfect. He knew he wouldn't be able to last much longer. And neither would she.

Vegeta grabbed her ankles and kept her legs spread wide as he settled down onto his knees and slowed his pace. "Cum for me," he encouraged her. "Cum all over my cock." Bulma licked her lips and tried to respond, but all she could manage was loud humming sounds of satisfaction. Vegeta smirked and slowed down his pace even more, shifting his body to the right so that he was stroking her at an angle. Bulma's moans escalated in volume and she bit her bottom lip hard as she felt tension building in her pelvic muscles viciously. Then he shifted his body to the left and started poking at her walls from another angle while Bulma was tossing her head back and forth deliriously.

"Oh my God, I'm about to cum!"

The prince released her ankles, letting her legs come back down to the bed and nestled himself between them. Then he picked up the pace, pounding into her relentlessly and caught her lips into a fiery kiss before they climaxed together. Vegeta buried his face in the crook of her neck and grunted as he shot hot jets of cum inside of her and she screamed out his royal name while milking his cock with her spasming walls. After their orgasms subsided, he pulled himself out of her and rolled onto his back. Bulma lay next to him panting with tendrils of cerulean hair clinging to her sweat slicked body. "That was amazing," she breathed. Vegeta was amazed too that the woman had made him cum that soon. No woman had ever done so. After merely one round, he was spent. It was unbelievable. He looked at the woman with new eyes like she was a mystical creature.

 _What on Vegeta is she doing to me?_

Bulma sat up in bed and removed her heels, dropping them over the edge of the bed to the floor. "It's hot in here, I'm going to get some air," she said shyly and nodded towards the balcony. Vegeta scoffed softly in amusement as he watched her nude form cross the bedroom self-consciously. He was reminded of the time in his father's study when she'd commented on the temperature of the room. He found it entertaining that she was acting so timid after all they'd just done-after seeing every bare inch of each others bodies. Bulma opened the balcony doors and walked out into the cool night air, grateful for the instant relief it gave her. She gathered her damp, blue tresses over one shoulder, letting the air hit her sweaty back, then leaned on the balcony railing and looked out onto the Saiyan kingdom. A kingdom ruled by a king and a prince.

She looked behind her questioningly in the direction of the gorgeous alien prince she left in bed, and was surprised to see him standing behind her. Bulma blushed and turned away. "I didn't know you were there," she muttered sheepishly. She felt so naked in his presence now, more than just literally. In the aftermath of their tryst, she was embarrassed at how she'd thrown her inhibitions to the wind for him. It was an exhilarating experience but she wondered, what now? Vegeta frowned at the woman's back, but there was a smile playing on his lips. He didn't understand her sudden awkwardness but he found it endearing and it drew him in. He walked up beside her and joined her in leaning on the railing in the nude. Bulma snuck a glance at him and hesitated before deciding to ask the question that came into her mind prior to his appearance.

"Vegeta, where's your mother, the queen?"

"Dead."

Bulma winced at his blunt reply. "I'm sorry," she whispered.

"Don't be. She did well."

"She did well?" Bulma turned to face him in surprise. "What do you mean by that?"

Vegeta turned around so that his back was facing the railing, and rested his elbows on the wide stone surface. "Saiyan pregnancies are notoriously difficult, but my mother's was especially difficult. It was riddled with complications, plus I was born much earlier than planned. Neither of us were expected to make it, but my mother made sure she survived long enough to give birth to the most powerful being in the universe. As I said, she did well." He looked over at her and smirked. Bulma smiled a bittersweet smile. It saddened her to find out the prince never got to know his mother, but she thought it was beautiful to hear him speak of her with so much pride.

"Most powerful being the universe? Full of yourself, much?" she couldn't resist chiding him playfully.

The prince shrugged. "It's true."

"Even more powerful than the king?" Bulma challenged.

"I surpassed my father in strength when I was a child."

She knit her eyebrows at him disbelievingly. "If that's true, then why do you-"

"Let the old man order me around?" Vegeta supplied.

"Well, yeah," Bulma laughed.

"Because he is my king."

Bulma gazed into his eyes, and what she saw in them showed her he truly meant it. Another realization came to her at that moment- _He was born prematurely. S_ he couldn't help but wonder if that had something to do with why he was so slight in comparison to all the other Saiyans. Even if it didn't she still couldn't shake her feelings of contrition.

"Vegeta."

Vegeta turned to his head to her in acknowledgment and was bothered by the change in her expression. Just a moment ago her eyes were dancing with mischief as she pretended to scold him, but now they were darkened with sadness. He straightened and shifted away from balcony railing, his instincts imploring him to eliminate whatever ills were plaguing her.

"I," she cleared her throat, "About earlier, I just wanted to say—I wanted to say sorry for making fun of your height. It was wrong of me."

Vegeta was stunned by the unexpected apology. He was used to receiving apologies all the time; many weaklings had groveled at his feet for mercy and many begged for his forgiveness to avoid being punished, but it was all empty words, in order to gain something from him. That something usually being the gift of living to see another day. But Bulma's apology wasn't like those apologies. He wasn't threatening her, she didn't seem to want anything from him but his forgiveness, out of concern for his feelings. He thought it was ridiculous of her to think that he might be wounded by something so trivial, but still he was moved by the pure emotion shining in her bright blue eyes. It set off a fluttering sensation in the pit of his stomach.

The prince went back to resting his elbows on the railing. "A lot happened after I...misled you in the beginning," he offered, then looked away uncomfortably and a light blush colored his cheeks. Bulma smiled at him in pleasant surprise at what she interpreted to be his way of an apology for tricking her into believing he was the king when she first arrived. She didn't know what surprised her more; the fact that he actually kind of apologized to her, or the that the cocky Prince of Saiyans was blushing! She giggled, it was easily the most adorable thing she'd ever seen in her life, and the same fluttering that afflicted Vegeta's stomach invaded hers. "What the hell is so funny?" he growled at her, embarrassed at himself. He could feel the hotness in his cheeks and cursed his very un-Saiyan like reaction.

"You know, you're kinda cute," she said with a wink.

Her cheekiness infuriated Vegeta and he decided he would show her "cute." Bulma yelped when she was hoisted onto the balcony railing with just her bottom touching it while the top half of her body was laid out horizontally leaving her dangling over the air. Her only support was Vegeta's tail wrapped around her waist-it was the only thing preventing her from falling to her death.

"Vegeta!" Bulma screeched. "Let me up, you jerk!" She tried to sit up and grab hold of him, but his strong tail kept her out of reach. Bulma twisted to look at the ground below her, it was a frighteningly long ways away. She began to panic, squeezing her legs around the prince's waist as tightly as she could, trying to raise herself back up to no avail.

"What's the matter? Don't you trust me?" he chuckled.

"No!" Bulma adamantly disagreed. "Vegeta, please! I'm sorry, let me up!" she wailed.

The prince smirked. Now, _that_ was the kind of apology he was accustomed to receiving. He relished being in control of the situation once more as the woman flailed about screaming. To quiet her down before she woke up the whole palace, he jerked her into an upright position with his tail and swallowed the rest of her screams in his mouth. She clutched onto him as he kissed her passionately, and she momentarily forgot her fear as she moved her lips with his. Her fear returned as soon as Vegeta's lips left hers and his tail lowered her down so she was hanging precariously over the air again. And again, Bulma freaked out.

"Bulma!" Vegeta yelled to get the frantic woman's attention."I will not let you fall." His commanding voice broke through her episode of terror and she was captivated by intensely black eyes boring down at her. Those eyes made her want to trust him, but her heart was thumping crazy fast in her chest due to her risky position. Bulma craned her neck to look down at the ground again. "Don't look down, keep your eyes on me," Vegeta ordered sternly. Bulma eyes snapped back to his and she watched him raise his thumb and lick it, then he pressed that wet thumb against her exposed clit and rubbed it in a slow, circular motion. Bulma shakily exhaled as tingles of arousal were building within her, and she slightly relaxed her legs around the prince's waist.

Once Bulma's moisture started flowing Vegeta removed his thumb and gently loosened the grip of her thighs around him so he could place the head of his cock at her slick opening. He coated it generously with her wetness, then used it to tease her pearl some more. Bulma closed her eyes and moaned softly while her hands caressed her breasts. What she initially regarded as a life threatening situation had transformed into a carnal thrill. She felt safe with the prince-and very turned on. Vegeta took her right hand from her breast and placed it between her legs, wanting to see her touch herself there next. Bulma obliged him even though she'd never done this in front of a man before. Vegeta joined in on the self-pleasure as he watched her use two of her fingers to play her clit for him like an erotic instrument, and Bulma was mesmerized by the sight of his hand stroking his hard cock up and down, her essence mixing in with his pre cum leaking from the tip. Bulma was the first to orgasm, throwing her head back and crying up to the starlit sky while her body jerked in the grip of Vegeta's tail. Not far behind her, the Saiyan let out a deep groan and anointed Bulma's breasts and neck with his sticky seed.

After the balcony interlude they ended up in the massive shower in Vegeta's royal chambers where they indulged in each other again under the spray of the water, laughing like children when they slipped and fell together on the shower floor. It didn't deter them, their flesh melded against one another in a desperate tempo on the wet floor while the water rained on them as their howls of ecstasy reverberated from off the shower walls, echoing around them. Sometime later they were on the prince's bed again, resting their spent bodies. Bulma felt positively boneless as she lay across Vegeta's tan chest contentedly.

As for the prince, he lay there frowning as he cautiously traced his finger over one of the woman's thin gravity cuffs on her wrist. It was a flimsy object, he could break it without even trying. "These bracelets are the only thing keeping you alive right now," he murmured softly. It disturbed him; one flick of his finger and she'd die. His chest constricted at the thought of her death. She was such a fragile and exquisite creature, he'd been trying all night to get his fill of her but he still wasn't full. He usually tired of women by now, but he found himself wanting to keep this one by his side for a little while longer. If he could keep her a few more days or so he'd definitely be able to get his fill and move on. He was nearly positive of that.

"Vegeta?" He looked down at the blue haired angel who spoke his name in her delicate feminine tone. Bulma yawned, she had been dozing off until she thought she heard Vegeta talking to her. "Did you just say something?" she asked.

"You're hearing things. Go back to sleep, woman."

"Oh," Bulma said, sleepily closing her eyes again and absently petting the prince's tail. Vegeta purred in appreciation of her action that was causing another appendage to come to life. Bulma sat up when she felt the low rumbling in his chest and smiled in wonder at his reaction to her touching his tail. She encircled it in her small fist and ran her hand up and down his tail more forcefully. The Saiyan was at full at attention now with his highly aroused flesh jutting up proudly from between his legs. Vegeta grabbed Bulma by the waist and sat her down on his face as he laid on his back. Bulma's thighs straddled Vegeta's head while he made a meal of her flower. He squeezed her plump bottom, encouraging her ride his tongue. While she was enjoying his enthusiastic mouth he reached over to retrieve a small bottle from the drawer of his nightstand and poured some clear, viscous liquid from it into his hand and stroked his shaft with it as the woman continued to ride his face. When he was well lubricated he poured some more of the liquid across his fingertips.

Bulma froze when she felt a wet finger entering her backside. "Just relax," Vegeta told her around a mouthful of her pussy. He slowly pumped his finger in and out of her and gradually slipped a second digit inside.

"Vegeta," Bulma whimpered at the unfamiliar sensation that began to feel good to her the more he did it. After he finished preparing her Vegeta lifted the woman from his face and sat up to position himself behind her, then he guided her onto her hands and knees. Bulma grew wary, having figured what was about to come next. Her thoughts were confirmed when she felt his slick head forcing it's way into her ass. Bulma tensed up and bit her lip at the pain of Vegeta's cock stretching the virgin hole. "It hurts," she whined. Vegeta leaned over to push her long hair over to the side of her neck, and planted kisses all over her shoulders and back.

"Just relax and take this cock like a big girl, Bulma. I promise you're going to love it," his voice huskily assured her.

Then Bulma felt feather soft fur at her front entrance tickling her folds. She gasped when the tail entered her and start whirling around inside of her, doing wonderful things. She spread her knees further on the bed and moaned as the skillful appendage worked it's magic, expertly locating her g spot and exploiting it. When Vegeta felt her loosening up, he pushed himself deeper inside her past the ring of muscle until he was fully stuffed inside of her ass. He waited a moment to let her get used to his intrusion before he started pushing in and out of her. Bulma was beside herself at the sensation overload of Vegeta's big cock in her ass, while his tail was thrusting in and out of her pussy. Bulma couldn't contain her screams of pleasure from the foreign experience, especially when Vegeta started giving it to her harder and faster, along with his tail. Her head fell forward onto the bed and she buried her face into sheets, the fabric muffling her screams as she clawed it with her nails.

"Fuck," Vegeta moaned when he felt Bulma's muscles contract violently around him and he came inside her ass while her juices flowed over his tail. Both he and Bulma were shaking afterwards and once Vegeta removed his softened member and tail from her, they collapsed onto the bed trying to catch their breath. Vegeta got up to go to the bathroom to relieve himself and clean off and by the time he returned to the bed with a warm washcloth, Bulma was fast asleep. He took the damp cloth and gently cleansed the remnants of sex from the sleeping woman's body. Despite never having done so for any of his bedmates before, he didn't question his actions. He returned the cloth to the bathroom, then turned off the lights and climbed into bed with her. The prince laid on his back beside her, his sleepy eyes blinking profusely, trying to stay awake so he could watch her sleep. The woman was leaving tomorrow. In the dark of the night, fighting a losing battle with sleep, he didn't bother to lie to himself. He wanted her to stay. One night, it seemed, was not enough. He spent the whole night bending her to his will, exploring her body many times over, having her in almost every sinful way imaginable—yet it still wasn't enough.

 _What is this feeling?_ He wondered, he was at a loss to describe it. The woman made him feel different somehow, like he hadn't a care in the universe. He wasn't ready to let her go yet, she could stay if she wanted. What would she say if he asked her to stay there with him? He was the Prince of all Saiyans, she couldn't refuse him. Vegeta smirked lazily as his eyes fell closed. He doubted she would take much convincing, the woman was hot for him. She loved every wicked thing he did to her body, there was no way she could possibly deny him anymore. There would be no more running away. Since he was banned from doing what he loved best for the time being—war—he could think of no better past-time than burying himself deep into the woman's body night after night while she screamed his name over and over. In the morning he would tell her, he'd think of some excuse to send the human she came with back to Earth and keep the woman there...with him. _Just until I tire of her_ , he reminded himself belatedly. Vegeta was plotting several ways to derail Bulma's plan to leave in the morning before sleep finally overtook him.

Bulma awoke in the middle of the night to the sound of soft knocking on the prince's door. She sat up in bed groggily and lifted her hands to rub the sleep from her eyes, but her movement was impeded by a furry brown tail wrapped around her wrist. Bulma smiled and gently unwound it from her arm. The knocking sound came again, and Bulma looked down at Vegeta sleeping soundlessly next to her, wondering what she should do. But she didn't have enough time to decide as she heard the door slowly open. Bulma gasped and tried to cover her nakedness from the eyes of the intruder with her hands. "My apologies," a soft female voice drifted into the room. "I didn't know the prince requested a different girl this evening."

"What?" Bulma whispered incredulously to herself as she heard the door close quietly again. _Requested a different girl?_ She spent about 10 seconds wondering what the late night visitor meant by that until it cruelly dawned upon her. A different girl meant a different _whore_ , she realized. A whore. The royal prince had royal _whores_. And that woman at the door, one of his whores no doubt, assumed she was also a whore. Rage started to well up inside of Bulma as she glowered at the blissfully unaware prince, deep in slumber. She balled up her fist and vividly imagined herself clocking him in the face, with all the strength she possessed. It was the badass reaction she wanted to give, but her usual tenacity was utterly escaped her now.

Her fist opened and lowered to her side weakly. She didn't have it in her to give the sleeping scoundrel beside her the rude awakening he deserved because she felt too ashamed. And foolish, so, so foolish. She let herself be used by a womanizer who probably had a different whore warming his bed every night. Bulma wanted to wake him up and scream at him that she was not one of his whores, but that's exactly what she was. He'd even said so himself and his words came back to haunt her with a vengeance now...

 _Unless you plan on being my whore for the night..._

… _.my whore for the night..._

… _.whore for the night..._

In hindsight, she essentially agreed to be his whore that night. Tears were threatening to spill from her eyes as the weight of her actions settled upon her. She just slept with a stranger, who cared nothing for her, the same day she met him. _You idiot! What did you expect?_ She furiously wiped at the tears that dripped from her eyes as she slid off the bed and fumbled around in the dark for her dress and shoes. Bulma was so pissed at herself for losing her mind when it came to the Saiyan Prince, she couldn't tell him no. However wrong it was, she couldn't say no to any of the dirty things he wanted from her. Instead of refusing him, she begged him. _Begged_ him. The tears were falling fast and free now.

 _What on Earth is he doing to me?_

She couldn't explain any of her actions when it came to him. How could she? They were nonsensical. She'd never experienced anything like it before, and it scared her that she could have such an overriding impulsion to feel such unreasonable feelings, and take such unreasonable actions. But she should have known better, there was no excuse for falling for his obvious seduction. He made very it clear, with his actions right from the beginning that getting her into the bed was his whole end goal. It was all a game to him and she gladly let him win. Bulma was disgusted with herself. She hated to admit it, but under the circumstances, it served her right that things turned out this way. The only thing left for her to do now was escape with whatever scrap of dignity she had left before he woke up and she was forced to face him. Bulma got her dress on and once she located her other shoe, she did what she had done since the moment she first met the alien prince responsible for the terrible pain in her chest.

She ran.

 **AN: Sorry for the long wait, but I hope you enjoyed this latest chapter! I worked really hard on it lol. This is only my second attempt at writing a detailed lemon (the first attempt being chapter 2) so be kind to me, dear reviewers:))) I am DY-ING to know what you think, haha.**


	6. Chapter 6

His arms stretched above his head languidly just as the sun was making it's ascent on the horizon. All his muscles were gradually awakened from repose as he extended his legs along with his arms to deepen the stretch. Tingles of energy to spread throughout his body and his lips parted to release a sigh of content. Rarely did he wake up feeling so refreshed and at ease. The prince opened his eyes and sat up in bed, noticing then that he was the only person in it. He guessed the foreign beauty he'd gone to bed with the night before was back in her room, and he hopped out of bed and headed to the bathroom with a cheerful bounce in his step. After his shower Vegeta got dressed in his royal armor and went to have breakfast with his father, as he did every morning.

"Father," Vegeta greeted and bowed when he entered the king's private dining room.

"Son." King Vegeta nodded at him from his seat at the dining table then waved the servants over to bring the food. Vegeta took his seat at the head across from his father. "You must have slept well last night," the king commented, not looking up from the screen of his hand-held device as he scrolled through it, checking his messages and important news updates. To anyone else the prince was in typical form, but one discerning glance from the king told him his son was quite pleased with himself for some reason. The boy was practically glowing-far from the reaction the king was expecting.

"Very well," Vegeta confirmed and started in on the royal spread before him. King Vegeta set aside his device and did the same. It was routine for the two monarchs to eat in silence and save conversation for afterward, but the prince broke that routine this morning.

"I suppose the earthlings will be departing soon," Vegeta remarked.

The king regarded him carefully. _Just as I thought. The_ _fool has no idea._ "The earthlings have already left the planet, you should have received a message on your scouter about this. "

Vegeta did not have his scouter on him and hadn't checked it after awakening. But it was customary for the king and prince to see off palace guests-what was going on?

"They insisted on leaving very early this morning," his father continued. "Since the staff in the ship bay received a direct order from you last night permitting them to leave at any time, they allowed them to do so. "

Vegeta said nothing, he rose stiffly from his chair and abandoned his breakfast.

"That little human did a number on him," the king sighed, he'd never seen his son so affected by a woman as he was by the blue haired scientist from Earth. It was as amusing as it was problematic because Vegeta's condition might very well interfere with him carrying out his duties as the crown prince. But even bigger than that concern was the one the king had for the stubborn prince's health; the condition was a formidable one, after all. No Saiyan male had ever successfully resisted it before, himself included. King Vegeta was stricken with it when he met Vegeta's mother, Brisella, a beautiful, sharp witted woman, full of Saiyan pride. But she was from a bloodline of weaklings. Due to this, a lot of his people were against having her as queen for fear her child would be weak, and as the first ever Saiyan king, he was under a lot of pressure to produce a strong heir.

He felt obligated to make a serious effort in taking Brisella's weak blood into consideration and making the best decision for the future of his bloodline and kingdom. Ultimately, he was powerless to deny himself from having her and decided to make her his queen, despite the opposition against them. During her pregnancy it was speculated how shamefully weak the child she was carrying would be, and much concern was expressed about the future of the newly established monarchy, of the newly established Planet Vegeta, named for him. But also many Saiyans, most notably, Zorn, his trusted confidant, was loyal to him through it all as he was highly esteemed for leading the Saiyans to victory against the Tuffles during the Saiyan-Tuffle War. When Brisella gave birth to Vegeta though, the whole planet was on the king's side again, as he ended up being the most powerful Saiyan baby on record.

4 years after Brisella passed, under the advice of his council he had another child with a woman noted to have the highest power level among all the Saiyan women at the time, and ironically, his weakling son Tarble was born from that union. Genetics were unpredictable. It was fortunate for his standing as ruler of the Saiyans that Brisella was able to produce such a powerful heir for him, but no one could have convinced him not to be with Brisella, whether she gave him a powerful heir or not. The priority of strength that was primal to the Saiyan being was minuscule in the face of what he felt for Brisella. It was the same thing Vegeta was feeling for the earthling woman. The king knew firsthand what his son was facing so he knew how useless it was to try and resist it for long. He also knew the potential danger Vegeta could incur upon himself if he tried to anyway, and it was without question that he would. His son reminded him a lot of someone else he knew who'd tried-and the outcome of those efforts was a tragedy.

* * *

The anger quietly simmering inside the prince was now bubbling over as he stalked through the palace halls. "That woman," he ground out. _She ran from me again!_ And he was planning to ask her to stay when all she wanted to do was get away from him, even after the night they shared. He'd never felt so humiliated by a female in his life. Usually he was the one slipping away in the middle of the night after sex, how dare she? When the prince reached the door of his destination he entered the authorization code on the security panel and barged in. The Saiyans working in the palace communications room jumped out of their seats and bowed to him. Vegeta waved a hand impatiently signaling them to cease bowing and resume their operations. The head of the department approached the prince.

"My prince," was all he said in a militant fashion and waited for orders. Vegeta appreciated the man's no-nonsense style.

"Come with me, Bak"

Vegeta strode to a door in the back of the room with Bak in tow, and put in his special access code to the room that had a console and viewing screen reserved for private connections.

"Open the channel to the earthings' ship."

"Yes, sire." Bak went up to the console and accessed the stored channel in the system that was used earlier to contact their ship, and requested a connection. The prince gave no further instruction, he just stood in front of the console with his arms crossed and a dark scowl on his face. Bak bowed again and left to give him the privacy he clearly wanted. The prince's mood worsened as he waited for the connection to be established.

"What the hell is taking so long?" Vegeta snapped at the screen.

* * *

Tanka Beamon stood at the front of the Capsule Corporation spaceship having a panic spell as the ship's com light kept blinking and beeping, signaling a communication request-and possibly his doom. "It's him!" he bemoaned, recognizing the channel signature from the Saiyan palace. The Saiyan Prince was the most terrifying person he'd ever met and he did not relish the thought of any type encounter with him again-even one from light years away. But he didn't want to just ignore the message either, it could be important. Maybe it was the king instead. Tanka glanced in the direction of Bulma's room and wondered if he should go and get her. She was a mess when she came to his room in the wee hours of the morning to tell him they were leaving, and once their ship cleared the planet's atmosphere she put him in charge, saying she didn't want to be bothered by anyone. And since she made it very clear that the Saiyan prince was on her bad side, Tanka could only assume that "anyone" especially included him. He didn't wish to end up on his boss' bad side too so rather than disturb her, he sucked it up and accepted the connection request.

The last person he wanted to see instantly appeared on the screen in front of him.

"Where is she?" the glaring prince demanded.

"She-, I-, d-, Dr. Brief isn't available right now-"

"Not available? Is she or is she not on the damn ship with you?"

"Ah, yes, but-"

"Put her on. Right now."

"I'm sorry, but she's not-"

"Are you disobeying a direct order from the Prince of all Saiyans, weakling? If you wish to continue your pathetic existence, I recommend you do as I say."

Tanka gulped and his hands started quivering at the prince's words and eyes filled with promises of murder. He was in over his head. Tanka looked toward his employer's room again, wanting badly to retrieve her like the prince wanted and escape the danger he was in, but he didn't move. He forced his feet to remain where they were, and looked down at them in shame as he remembered how he fearfully abandoned Bulma the night before. He didn't know what happened to her after he ran away, but the next time he saw Bulma it was evident that she had been crying. When he asked her what happened she refused to say, but she made some choice comments concerning Prince Vegeta. All bad. Tanka looked up at the screen again and right into the prince's harsh eyes. The man had to have done something to her, something that may not have happened if he hadn't turned tail and ran out on Bulma. Tanka wasn't going to make the same mistake again, he would be a man this time and stand up to the prince in order to protect Bulma.

"I can't do that, Prince Vegeta," he said. Vegeta's eyes grew large in umbrage at the meek scientist's defiance. "Bulma doesn't want anything to do with you. She told me as much, and I will respect her wishes."

Vegeta's scowl deepened. He didn't recall doing anything to the woman to warrant such a snub. "And why should I take your word for it? If she wants nothing to do with me, let her come out and tell me herself."

"Why? So you can make her cry again?" Tanka challenged with uncharacteristic boldness.

"What exactly, and do be specific, are accusing me of, human?" Vegeta inquired lowly with insincere calm.

"I don't know the details," Tanka admitted, "I just know that she said, and this is a direct quote, 'I hate that stupid, arrogant, man-whoring prince, and I never want to see his ugly mug again.'"

"Get her out here, right now!" the prince blew his top.

"I can't do that, Prince Vegeta," Tanka repeated resolutely.

Vegeta clenched his right fist and dutifully resisted the urge to smash the screen to pieces with it. He couldn't believe the nerve of the spineless weakling before him, trying to act brave because he couldn't get to him at the moment. "Well you just better hope I never see _you_ again," the prince threatened before severing the connection. He no longer cared to know why the woman returned to her planet so suddenly. It was just as well, he would have sent her back there soon enough anyway, it just happened a little sooner than he planned. "To hell with her," the prince said dismissively.

* * *

Bulma was sitting cross-legged on the bed in her private quarters of the ship, tinkering halfheartedly with the scouter Vegeta gifted her. It would take 11 days for them to reach Earth. In her mind, she was developing ways to enable the ship to make the trip in half the time, not that she planned on making the trip herself again. Thankfully, it wasn't necessary. She would use the interplanetary communication system she already established between Earth and Planet Vegeta to keep the king updated on the production and shipping schedule of the gravity chambers and other products. Space drones could handle the deliveries. There was no need for her to set foot on Planet Vegeta again, which also meant no need for her to have to ever see _him_ again.

Bulma sighed as she thought of _him_ and their night together. She'd never felt more alive or wanted, but he hadn't really wanted her-just her body. They came together under the force of passion and lust, nothing more. And how could it possibly be more? They didn't know each other, they were strangers really. That fact was mysteriously nullified whenever she was in his presence, though. For the short time they were acquainted they spent much of that time arguing like they'd hated each other all their lives. And then they made love together like lovers reuniting after a long separation. _No, that wasn't love making._ Bulma corrected her mind. It was...incredible, but it wasn't love making. It meant nothing, it was probably a routine night for him since he apparently had a royal brothel at his disposal. An angry lump formed in Bulma's throat that was hard to swallow.

What was even harder to swallow was that if she had it to do all over again, she knew she still would have given in to him. Salty water filled her eyes again, as again she was whelmed by a dreaded feeling; guilt _._ It was more palpable when mixed in with her heartache. Bulma got up from the bed and walked over to her desk to pick up the framed photo she kept on it. It was a photo of herself and a man, who in the three years she'd known him, had never made her feel a quarter of the heart bursting desire she felt with an alien she hadn't known for three days.

Her boyfriend, Yamcha.

* * *

"Did you hear all that screaming from the prince's room last night?" a palace guard remarked to another coming to relieve him from his post.

"Hell yeah, I'm sure everyone with ears within a mile of the palace heard it."

"He was with that blue haired scientist that came from Earth."

"Seriously? Are you sure?"

"I'm sure. She went running into his room last night and didn't go back to her room til this morning."

"As expected of our prince."

"Well our prince has some woman trouble now. I ran into Zorra earlier, she's pissed!"

"I have woman trouble? This is news to me, do tell." Vegeta startled the gossiping guards when he appeared behind them, seemingly from out of nowhere.

"Good morning, Prince Vegeta," the two men quickly greeted in unison and bowed.

"I'm not interested in hearing about how good of a morning it is. Tell me about this woman trouble I'm having, and what about Zorra?" The prince folded his arms across his chest and waited for an explanation. The guards exchanged dubious looks and shifted under the weight of the prince's condescending scowl. Even though he was much shorter than them he still managed to look down on them like they were mere insects.

"I happened to run into Zorra earlier," the guard with the inside knowledge proceeded carefully to avoid implicating himself as a busybody, "As I was trying to continue on my way, she started going on about how angry she was that there was another woman in your bed when she went to your room last night. I just walked away from her, sire."

"Is that all?" Vegeta asked coolly.

"Uh, yes, Prince Vegeta."

To his relief, Vegeta turned his back on him and casually resumed his pace in the direction he'd been heading. The guard began walking away too.

"Where are you going?" The prince came to a halt and voiced his question without turning around.

"My shift is over, sire. I was going to go take a break."

"Stay where you are. If you have all this energy for gossip and keeping track of my affairs, I'd say you're not due for a break yet."

"Yes, my apologies, Prince Vegeta," the guard replied dejectedly to Vegeta's retreating back. He'd been at his post for seven and a half hours without food or rest, and there was no telling how many more hours he'd be stuck there now, thanks to his big mouth. He cut his eyes at the other guard, who was making a poor attempt at stifling his laughter.

* * *

"That coward," Vegeta muttered to himself as he went to rejoin the king in the dining room, though he wasn't hungry anymore. He didn't want to admit how upset he was when he first found out that Bulma left without him knowing, but he had no problem acknowledging his anger now that he knew the reason why she left. It didn't take long for Vegeta to put things together after what the guard told him. He'd forgotten Zorra was supposed to come by his room last night and she and Bulma must have had some kind of encounter sometime after he fell asleep. That was the only logical scenario for why both women were pissed at him now. Those plans with Zorra were made before Buma set foot on the planet—before he ever knew she existed. What gave her the right to punish him for that? That was childish- _she_ was childish.

All she did was act like a child from the moment they met, with all her running away, acting like she didn't want him when she really did, and just generally being ridiculous. He was sure she was considered an adult by her race's standards, but he had yet to witness adult behavior from her. Vegeta felt foolish for entertaining the thought of keeping her around at all, but how could she run off crying in the middle of the night without even confronting him? "She's nothing but a coward," he labeled her again. He certainly didn't owe her an explanation but he felt he could have easily cleared up that situation, she didn't have to just leave like that. It would be one thing if the woman left on her own terms, but she left because in her mind he wronged her in some way. He'd done nothing to her except fuck her good. She couldn't be mad at him for having done the same to other women before. And she called him a _man whore_ -did she expect to him be chaste before she got in bed with him? She was blaming him for things she had no business blaming him for-and she called him ugly too! "Fuck her," he swore. He couldn't care less about the highly irrational female.

Vegeta was back in the private dining room now but the king wasn't. He chose to seek out his father's whereabouts instead of bothering with his cold breakfast. Vegeta went to the king's study and froze in place after opening the door. The room was empty of bodies, what stopped him was the scent that was filling it-it smelled like... _her._ The prince ventured cautiously into the room, leaving the door open. His steps were deliberate, as if he feared that if he moved around too quickly the euphoria inducing scent would overwhelm him. Tracking down the source of the aroma with his astute nose, he went around to the rear of his father's desk, pulled out the chair, and dropped to one knee, coming face to face with the culprit; _The woman's jacket._ The one she wearing when they first met in that room.

He grabbed it up from the floor, and against his better judgment, he inhaled the material. Vegeta wasn't prepared for how powerful of an effect her scent had on his faculties. It urged him to ready a ship and chase her across the galaxy, she couldn't have gotten that far away yet. Vegeta shook his outrageous inclinations away furiously. _Look at yourself behaving like some weakling!_ The prince balled up the navy blue blazer in his hands and set it aflame with his ki.

"I distinctly remember telling you to stay the hell out of here, boy," King Vegeta's irritated voice rang out as he strode into the room then and closed the door. He watched suspiciously as his son stood up from behind the desk. "What were you doing?"

Vegeta walked around the desk and bowed in a grandiose fashion. "I was searching for the magnanimous King of all Saiyans."

"And you imagined he'd be hiding underneath his desk?" the king remarked dryly, still eyeing him with distrust. He never bothered to keep the door to his study locked because he kept no sensitive documents in there, but he was reconsidering that policy now. King Vegeta sat down at his desk and motioned to a leather armchair in the back corner of the room. "Sit down. We have things to discuss." As Vegeta sat down and crossed his arms as usual, the king considered which topic to broach first. The prince would take to neither agreeably, but the king thought it best to begin with the softer blow, even if it was by a slim margin.

"What do you think of Kakarot, Vegeta?"

"Kakarot? He's of no importance," Vegeta said nonchalantly, though his fingers tightened around his biceps.

"You'd better damn well consider him important. He could become your biggest rival."

"A third class, my biggest rival? Hardly." His fingers were cutting off the flow of blood to his upper arms now.

"He is a third class in name, not in power, you are aware of this. I know you're also aware that he hasn't just been increasing in strength, he's also steadily gaining in _skill_. You were at the presentation, and I assume you found time to read the reports on him. He's improving in ways that can't be credited solely to Brief's gravity training machine-and he's improving at a fast rate."

The prince's sharply down-turned eyebrows were enough to express his displeasure with what he'd just heard, and what he'd heard was unfortunately true. He'd noticed every bit of what his father was telling him and more, he practically had the data on Goku's progress committed to memory. If he were a less prideful man, he might have acknowledged that it was impressive. All he was willing to concede was that it was bothersome; that he was able to acquire that level of skill in a short time was bothersome indeed. Still, he thought his father was overreaching with the idea of a tail less, reject Saiyan catching up to him enough to become a serious rival someday.

"I'm sending for Kakarot. I want to evaluate him myself and keep him close by so he can be monitored," King Vegeta said.

"That is not necessary. I'm the most powerful Saiyan alive, and there is no one stronger than me in the universe. He couldn't even dream of surpassing me."

"Oh? So you're fine with Kakarot having primary access to all of Capsule Corporations power boosting technologies? What will you do if the humans develop a way to turn him into a Super Saiyan? Something like that would destroy the power balance I've worked so hard to achieve. Not even you, Mr. Strongest in The Universe can compete with a Super Saiyan. He may be Saiyan by blood but he's on the humans' side, not ours. This isn't just about you, this concerns the fate of the Saiyan Empire."

"Oh come on, father!" Vegeta shot up from the chair, unable to bear the old man's far-fetched theories any longer. "You're giving that woman far too much credit if you think she can make a Super Saiyan! There hasn't been one in a thousand years, and for all we know, that's just a myth!" Neither of them spoke following Vegeta's outburst, he'd said what every Saiyan thought in the back of their minds but was unwilling to voice aloud. Every Saiyan warrior clung to the legend of the Super Saiyan as an ultimate goal, but no one had ever seen one. There was just the story that had been passed down for generations about the one Saiyan in Saiyan history with teal eyes, hair that burned bright gold, and power so great, it destroyed his body. No one even knew his name.

"He's coming. The decision has already been made," the king eventually stated.

"Fine, is there more you wish to discuss with me, or may I leave now?"

"You may not. Sit down."

 _Great, what's the old man going to come up with next?_ Vegeta lowered himself back into the chair reluctantly. At least whatever else his father had to say couldn't be half as outrageous as his talk of a Super Saiyan science project.

"What are you going to do about that Brief woman, son?"

Vegeta almost looked over his shoulder to locate whom his father was talking to, because it surely couldn't have been him. He felt paranoid in his suspicion that his own father was drawing the same absurd conclusion as Nappa and the rest of those fools yesterday, when Toma referred to Bulma as his chosen mate, but the king's facial expression was identical to theirs on that day.

Sympathy.

"Just what are you getting at, father?"

King Vegeta sighed heavily. "I know you've noticed the changes in your behavior. You should have realized by now what's happening to you."

"The only thing happening to me is that apparently my father woke up this morning and decided to subject his son to utter nonsense."

"Watch yourself, boy."

"What else am I supposed to say to that?" Vegeta exclaimed in exasperation. "This is nonsense! I don't give a shit about that woman and I am the same as I have always been!"

"Then why didn't you kill her when she insulted you in the council room? Or when she taunted you at the feast? Why did you not punish her?"

"You told me I wasn't allowed to harm your precious asset! Now you're questioning me for obeying your commands?"

King Vegeta snorted. "Yes, and I specifically told you not to harm the Kednians, but that didn't stop you from eradicating the entire race from existence."

The prince loudly exhaled and drug the palm of his hand down over his face. His father obviously wasn't going to let that one go anytime soon. "And it cost me not being able to fight anymore, of course I wasn't going to repeat that mistake."

"You didn't harm her because you have an aversion to harming her."

"Please, I don't have an aversion to harming anyone," Vegeta scoffed at the poor allegation. He loved harming people; harming people was number one on his list of favorite things to do.

"You can't bring yourself to harm her, and you are highly possessive of her."

"Did you not hear me say I don't give a shit about that Earth bitch?" Vegeta lost his cool, jumping to his feet again.

The king rose to his feet as well and his dark eyes met the ones glowering back at his just as fiercely. "Oh? So _that's_ why you blasted Toma while he was dancing with her, and _that's_ why you leveled forty-two men on the grounds yesterday with your most powerful attack, after they asked to mate her? Or why you chased her all over the goddamned palace last night, or why you suddenly lost your appetite when you found out she left you? All of that was because you DON'T GIVE A SHIT ABOUT HER?!"

Vegeta folded his arms on his chest and stared angrily to his left. "You're twisting things to suit your position," he hissed.

The elder Vegeta dropped back into his chair unceremoniously, then he closed his eyes and massaged his right eyebrow with his index and middle finger, while lamenting over producing such a stubborn child.

"You have it, son," King Vegeta sighed out and opened his eyes.

"I have what?" The prince snapped indignantly, turning his attention back to his father.

"Moon Rapture."

"I'm not listening to this anymore." Vegeta turned on his heel and went for the door.

"I'm not finished talking to you, boy."

Vegeta ignored his father and was about to turn the door handle and open it.

"YOU WILL LISTEN!" the king thundered. "The day you refuse to obey your king is the day you accede the throne over my lifeless body!" Vegeta's hand stilled and a wave of shame struck him over the way he was showing undue disrespect to his king. Respect was something worth fighting to the death for on Planet Vegeta and his father would sooner die before he stood for much more of his behavior. Vegeta calmed himself down before things escalated further and led to something that could not be undone. He dropped his hand from the door and turned to face his father stonily. He didn't trust himself to speak, but he would at least listen to him with proper respect.

"You have it," King Vegeta repeated. "And it's just going to get worse the longer you try to deny it, it's inevitable. You know why it's called Moon Rapture, don't you? It's named for that indescribable feeling of bliss a Saiyan feels when he stares at the full moon. When you meet a woman who makes you feel that way, the effect is just as instantaneous, and you're powerless to stop it any more than you could stop the Oozaru transformation. I won't force you to go after her Vegeta, but you will only cause yourself unnecessary suffering if you don't."

 _And I don't want to have to watch you suffer, like he did. You're so much like him._

The king could not put into words his worry and fear for his son over the path he was taking, so he tried to entreat him with the rare showing of emotion in his eyes. The hardened prince was unmoved. He stood there looking back at him with defiant, black eyes, totally unreachable. "You may go now," the king tiredly granted him permission to leave and he did so immediately. After he was gone King Vegeta leaned back in his chair and tilted his face towards the ceiling. "If he didn't look just like me, I'd swear he was yours, brother."

Vegeta's muscles were so tense he resembled a statue in motion as he stomped down the halls of the palace. Refraining from violence was too much of a burden for him in his current state, so he wound up redecorating the place a bit with his fists. He punched another hole in the wall, wishing it was his father's head instead. _Damn that old man to fucking hell!_ First he claimed some clown who lost his memory in an idiotic fashion, was his competition, and then he accused him of having the disgusting disease known to Saiyans as Moon Rapture. Vegeta didn't know which of his father's ideas were more insulting-they were neck and neck. But he did know that when Kakarot arrived he was going to leave no doubt about the vast power difference between them. He'd show that disgrace what a true Saiyan was and paint the ground red with his blood—he wasn't worthy of the Saiyan blood coursing through his veins anyway.

And as for the woman, she was nothing to him-all women were nothing to him, and he would not be bound to one for the rest of his life. Moon Rapture was a condition that afflicted only the males of the Saiyan race, and it was not something they were prone to speak openly about. It was something they dreaded contracting, and for good reason; once you had it, you could never get rid of it and your enemies could extort just about anything from you if they threatened the woman you had it for. It was a huge liability. And if you caught Moon Rapture for a woman who wouldn't have you, gods help you. The ones who met that fate lived pitiful lives, willfully humiliating themselves trying to convince someone to be with them who didn't want them.

That was usually what Saiyan men feared most about Moon Rapture, but to Vegeta, the worst aspect of the disease was how it robbed you of your freedom of choice. It could strike you at any moment, without warning, and you had no choice about which woman you caught it for, and the right to decide whether or not you even wanted to be with someone or opt to remain uncommitted, was stolen from you. Moon Rapture decided all of that for you. It was a form of imprisonment, and it would never take him for it's prisoner; he would retain his freedom and sovereignty over all of his choices until the day he died.

* * *

 _Two Weeks Later..._

A very determined Saiyan Prince was standing in the hall outside his bedroom as servants moved his old bed out of the room and replaced it with a newly crafted one. He had to get that bed the hell out of his room. Every time he looked at it he saw _her_ all over it with her body situated in a seductive position, or sometimes he imagined her touching herself for him. He was also imagining her scent in the room, though he wasn't sure if it was only his imagination, but he had scoured the room thoroughly for the source of the smell and found nothing. Still, it persisted. He couldn't take it anymore, he was driving himself into a frenzy each night and barely able to sleep. During the day he thought of her and during the night he dreamed of her-urgent dreams that awakened him with urgent erections aching for relief. Self pleasure was never sufficient. He felt sick in his mind, his sanity was in tatters.

"Was your old bed displeasing to you, my son?"

He flinched at his father's rumbling voice next to him, he hadn't noticed his arrival. Vegeta kept his eyes forward and shrugged, hoping his father wouldn't ask him to elaborate on the matter. King Vegeta gave him a sidelong glance, he was certain the bed business was due to his Moon Rapture. He'd heard accounts of him accosting his housekeeper, demanding she clean his room over again to get rid of the smell in it. The maid always apologized, saying she had just got done cleaning it and didn't smell anything. The last time it happened, she made the near fatal error of asking him to describe the smell to her and that's when he reportedly exploded on the woman, threatening to kill her if she didn't get rid of it.

"Scent Hypersensitivity," the king commented.

"What?"

"Scent Hypersensitivity. A symptom of Moon Rapture where the nose becomes hypersensitive to the chosen woman's scent."

 _Not this Moon Rapture shit again._ Vegeta rolled his eyes and inhaled, then exhaled shakily through his nose. He was already in a foul mood and it seemed his father was on a mission to worsen it.

"The men have been making bets on how long you can endure it before you give in and go to Earth."

"My king, you do enjoy antagonizing me lately," the prince quipped in a strained voice.

"Look at yourself, you think you can make this go away by getting a new bed? You cannot defeat the rapture. No Saiyan has ever been able to resist it for long." The king hesitated before adding, "Except for one."

Vegeta's interest was piqued now. He looked at his father for the first time during their conversation. "And what became of him?"

"He died."

" _Died?_ Explain," Vegeta demanded incredulously. He refused to believe that Moon Rapture could actually kill a man.

"He managed to resist it for years...but the torment of staying away from the woman he had Moon Rapture for eventually drove him to suicide."

"He killed himself over a _woman?_ " the prince asked derisively. "Sounds like a weakling." The second the insult left his mouth his father's fist was gripping his throat and slamming him into the wall behind them. Deep fissures were created in the material from the impact of the back of Vegeta's head.

"My brother was no weakling," King Vegeta growled into his face threateningly, then he released him and walked a few steps away, turning his back on him while he regained his composure. "You have no idea what you're up against, you little fool."

Vegeta was shocked. His father rarely spoke of his brother, Keef, but when he did it was always in the highest regard. He'd heard many stories from Saiyan elders praising the man's strength and Saiyan pride, and all he'd ever heard about the circumstances of his death was that he died in battle during the Saiyan-Tuffle War. Never any mention about suicide or Moon Rapture.

"What really happened to him? What aren't you telling me?"

"It was towards the end of the Saiyan-Tuffle War," the king began and paused before continuing. It was his first time telling this story to anyone-not even Zorn knew of it. "We had been fighting the Tuffles for seven years already, winning some battles with our brute strength, losing others to their advanced weaponry. Keef and I led an attack on one of the smaller Tuffle cities one night but we were overwhelmed and forced to retreat-Keef didn't make it back. Unbeknownst to us at the time, he was badly wounded in the fight and had to hide himself in the city. A Tuffle woman found him and gave him refuge in her home, caring for him and treating his injuries. Keef was ruthless and despised the Tuffles, perhaps more than any of us did. He told me later that if he hadn't been so weakened, he would have ripped her throat out for daring to take pity on him." The king half smiled at the memory of his brother's lame excuse.

"If he was in perfect condition he still wouldn't have been able to raise his hand to that woman. It was more than two months before he returned to the base. He told everyone he'd hidden himself away while he recovered from his injuries, neglecting to mention the woman, but he eventually confided the full truth to me; he caught Moon Rapture for a Tuffle, our sworn enemy. It tore him apart. Keef thought he was betraying his entire race by caring for the Tuffle woman and he felt guilty for staying with her longer than necessary and not wanting to leave her. He vowed on his honor as a Saiyan warrior that he would never see her again. To him, being with her was in violation of his Saiyan pride. For three years he stayed away from her...it changed him. He stopped sleeping and he became remarkably cruel, even by Saiyan standards, and he isolated himself and pushed everyone away. Even me. At the end of the third year, the turning point of the war happened."

"The moon," Vegeta quietly interjected. He knew—every Saiyan knew—that it was the moon, which only occurred on the planet once every eight years, that assured their victory against the Tuffles in the ten year civil war.

"When the moon appeared all hell broke loose, they were no match for 10,000 Oozaru besieging the planet. It was the first time we Saiyans experienced the transformation, we received a tremendous power boost from it that lasted after we reverted to normal. We wiped out the Tuffles in a few short hours. Sometime during the chaos after I shrunk back to size, I heard the most wretched scream pierce the air and I knew it was my brother's. I went to him as fast as I could." King Vegeta turned around and looked his son in the eyes. His face was grave and worn like his recounting of the past had aged him.

"When I reached Keef, he was crying. I'd never seen him cry before and never thought him capable of it, but he was crying enough to fill a lifetime. Tears poured down his face unceasingly as he cradled his Tuffle woman's dead body in his arms, and there was a dead Saiyan next to them. Keef kept screaming that he was sorry. He screamed it at her, to the comrade he murdered, to me, to the sky... Seeing him so helpless and broken paralyzed me, I always thought my brother was indestructible. Before I could think to say or do anything, he blasted himself in the heart."

Vegeta said nothing at the conclusion of his father's tragic tale, he was too stunned to speak. His father turned away from him again and added, "Keef died with a massive amount of guilt over killing a fellow Saiyan over an enemy and for not being able to save his woman." The king did not mention the guilt he harbored himself over not reacting quickly enough to stop his brother from taking his life. "I suspect he also regretted the years he wasted denying himself her."

"What does this have to do with me?" The prince became angry at the insinuaton.

"You remind me of him a great deal. I don't wish to see another of my blood suffer in that manner, so needlessly."

"I am not my uncle and I do not have Moon Rapture, but even if I did, there's no way in hell I would be bested by some mysterious illness! I will decide my own fate!"

The king's eyes fell closed sorrowfully. He decided to tell his son Keef's story in the hope that he could stop him from making the same mistakes Keef did. The story had the opposite effect he intended.

"Your strength is useless in this situation, Vegeta. If you continue on like this you will regret it."

The prince didn't give a rebuttal, he stormed off in a rage. Hearing the fate of his uncle only intensified his resolve to reject the curse of Moon Rapture. If it had indeed come for him, he would defeat it. It disgusted and angered him immensely that it could reduce a great warrior to that pathetic a state. He wished his father had never told him and kept his brother's disgrace to himself, and his legacy untarnished. He was nothing like his uncle; he would never cry, he would never kill himself, and he would regret nothing. All of that was for the weak. There had to be a way to beat the Rapture and he would be the one to find it. He swore it on his royal birthright as the Prince of all Saiyans.

 **AN: Didn't intend to take this long to update, whew! This story has changed A LOT from where I was going to go with it. You're going to be surprised at a couple of things and I know you're going to hate me for one thing in particular...sorry in advance haha. I see no one guessed Yamcha was going to make an appearance in this story! Lol and now you finally know what the IT is that Vegeta has. Pretty intense, huh?**

 **Oh yeah, if some of you didn't know about the Saiyan-Tuffle war, that's canon (I guess). Baby talked about it in GT. Anyway, as usual, I can't wait to know what you guys think about the new chapter! And, oh my gosh, I can't believe this story has over a hundred reviews already. That's awesome! Thanks for all the feedback, keep it coming:))**


	7. Chapter 7

The Capsule Corp. hover jet landed lightly on the yellow sand of the small island. Bulma cut the engine and leaned back against her seat to rest a moment, she hardly had time to do so since she returned from Planet Vegeta. She'd been back for a week now, and it was a week filled with meeting after meeting with King Furry and his Cabinet wanting to know how her visit with the Saiyans went and what to expect from them in the future. Were they trustworthy? Would they hold up their end of the bargain? Was there any way to defeat the Saiyans if they ever turned on them? Did Earth just make a deal with the devil? Bulma didn't have answers for any of those questions, but the answer to the question of, was she tired of government goons hanging around Capsule Corp pestering her about the projects she was working on for the Saiyans? Was a resounding, _yes_ _._

She was beyond sick of the jerks crowding her lab, being all pushy and acting superior when they totally wimped out on traveling to Planet Vegeta with her. Not that she could blame them for being afraid after they witnessed what the Saiyans were capable of when they came to Earth. It was six months ago when two of them arrived in their round, single passenger alien ships. They sought out Goku first out of curiosity because he possessed the highest power level, according to their scouters, and Goku and the gang all happened to be at her place that day celebrating Yamcha's birthday. The Saiyans thought Goku looked familiar and one of them recorded his image with their scouter and transmitted it to their king, which eventually lead to the not so shocking revelation that Goku was from another planet.

None of them knew what to think when the Saiyans told them they were thinking about giving them the honor of being a part of their empire, and that they wanted to know where they could find Earth's ruler. They promised they weren't there to hurt anyone and just wanted to talk but it wasn't clear whether or not they could be trusted. The two men had a dangerous vibe emanating from them that even she could feel, but it impacted her ki sensing friends more profoundly as they could detect with certainty that the Saiyans outclassed them all. If their intentions were for evil, what could they do against them let alone a whole planet full of guys that were just as crazy strong? That didn't stop Goku from challenging them to a fight.

The enthusiastic boy didn't stand a chance. Everyone pretty knew what the outcome would be, but it was still disturbing to witness the hero who seemed to always come through and save the day, defeated so easily. Bulma, on the condition that they wouldn't kill anyone, reluctantly told the Saiyans what they wanted to know then; how to get to King Castle. King Furry was indignant when he heard the Saiyans' proposal and moved to show the two intruders the might of Earth's army. His tune about-faced when he saw them ball up fighter jets with their bare hands like they were notebook paper, and capsized his entire naval fleet. True to their word, no one was killed.

King Furry was decidedly attentive after that, and once he heard that the King of Saiyans was seeking the best technology his planet had to offer, he sent the Saiyans right back to where they started; Capsule Corporation, home of the most innovative and advanced technologies on Earth. They gave her a small video device on which to receive communications from their king, and six months to develop something impressive enough to score an alliance. The deal was that if she gave them something significant to the advancement of their race, they would help protect Earth and defend it against enemies too powerful for them to handle. However, they didn't say what would happen if she failed to win them over with her inventions.

Kami was able to shed some light on that. Through him they learned about the Saiyans' reign of terror in the universe-at least, it started out as a reign of terror. They were ruthless in the beginning, constantly starting wars and destroying worlds just for the fun of it, even sending their babies out to unsuspecting planets so they could turn into the giant ape form she'd seen Goku transform into, before his tail was cut off, and crush everyone. Kami told them the Saiyans mellowed out in recent years though, no longer behaving as barbarically, or causing as much murder and destruction, becoming more civilized and strategic instead. The guardian of Earth believed this was because they had already conquered much of the universe and were comfortable in their position as the most powerful race. That wasn't to say they were completely cured of murdering and destroying.

They were known to wipe out whole populations of planets that opposed them and put them up for sale, selling planets was lucrative business for the Saiyans. It wasn't far fetched to say that if she hadn't delivered something good, Earth might have been cleared out and sold to the highest bidder. Bulma felt something like a hero, except she'd used her brains, not brawn, to save the world. She smiled at the thought of herself being a heroine and wondered if her feeling of pride was what Goku felt every time he rescued them from impending doom.

"Hey Bulma!"

Bulma jerked in her seat and turned to look out of her window. Master Roshi, Krillin, Goku, Oolong, Yamcha, and Puar were standing on the beach waving at her. Her smile faltered when she saw Yamcha, she wasn't expecting him to be there. They hadn't talked since her first day back on Earth-when she confessed to cheating on him.

"So tell us what those Saiyans were like, Bulma," Master Roshi said once they'd gathered around in the living room with some freshly made tea.

"Well..." Bulma blushed lightly and took a sip from her cup. Talking about Saiyans gave rise to unbidden thoughts and mental images of one Saiyan in particular-one she wasn't supposed to think about anymore. "They're a little rough around the edges, but they're not that different from us. They sure can tear up a dance floor." Bulma chuckled at the memory. She didn't catch Yamcha's eyes narrowing at her.

Krillin laughed. "Whoa, you danced with them? And here we were worried you wouldn't make it back alive and you were up there having a ball."

"That's one way to put it," Yamcha muttered under his breath and looked at his now ex-girlfriend pointedly. Bulma guiltily avoided his eyes.

"I'd sure like to fight those guys again, I bet I can take 'em now," Goku remarked with a confident gleam in his eyes.

"You'll get your chance to fight as many of them as you want, soon," Bulma said.

Goku's face lit up. "Really? Are they coming back or something?" he asked excitedly.

"No, you're going to them," she said, to everyone's shock. "That's actually what I came here to talk to you about, Goku. The Saiyan King wants to meet you."

"Huh, _Me?_ But why?"

Bulma shrugged. "I guess he wants to know more about you because you're a Saiyan living on another planet. And I think he's impressed by how strong you are."

"No, there's more to it than that," Master Roshi stated matter of factly with an intensely thoughtful expression, causing everyone to look at him in concern.

"Something like what? Should we be worried?" Krillin prodded nervously. Master Roshi said nothing, he kept staring straight ahead looking deadly serious while the wrinkles on his face deepened. Everyone leaned in close to the man, anxious to hear about what was troubling him.

"Too close!" The turtle hermit exclaimed in alarm when he realized the faces of his audience were but inches from his own.

"Well spit it out then! What do you mean there's more to it than that? What do they really want with Goku?" Bulma demanded.

"How should I know?" Master Roshi yelled back at her. "I've just got a feeling!"

"You had us holding our breath for nothing, old man," Oolong said..

"Yeah, you really had us going there," Krillin added. His ancient martial arts master crossed his arms and turned his nose up at his critics.

"But wow, the king wants to meet me? I bet he's the strongest one on the planet since he's king of them all," Goku reasoned, giddy at the possibility of fighting someone that powerful.

"No, that would be the prince," Bulma corrected quietly. "But anyway," she quickly moved on, "After I finish upgrading the ship and the gravity rooms for the Saiyans, you can go. It should only take me another week and the ship will be able to get there in 5 days now instead of 11. Am I great or what?"

"Um, guys, is it really wise for us to be helping the Saiyan's get even stronger?" Krillin interrupted.

"I hear ya, Krillin. I don't like it either," Yamcha agreed.

Bulma glared at them both. "Well, I don't hear anybody coming up with any better ideas! Thanks to me, Earth is safe. You should be kissing my butt right now."

"Safe for now," Master Roshi put in seriously, "But other planets weren't so lucky." The room fell silent as they remembered what Kami told them about the Saiyans' violent history-whole civilizations decimated. "The Saiyans are dangerous and unpredictable," he continued. "I'm not sure this alliance is such a good thing, if they ever wanted to get rid of us too, we're pretty much toast. Even if Goku got stronger than those two Saiyans that came before, he can't beat a planet full of 'em."

Bulma chewed on the corner of her lip. The Saiyans didn't seem that bad to her after spending a little time around them. "Maybe they can change?" she offered hopefully.

Oolong grinned at her crookedly. "Yeah Bulma, maybe if you go back there and flash your jugs at 'em, they'll be real nice to us."

"Ugh! Shut up, you dirty little pig!" Bulma screamed, flushing furiously because she'd done a lot more than that for the prince of them all.

Yamcha's thoughts followed a similar line of thinking. "I don't think that'll work, man. She tried that already," he said carelessly to the result of dropped jaws.

"Way to go, Bulma!" Oolong guffawed until Bulma's fist walloped his skull.

Bulma was on her feet fuming, he was taking things too far now. "How could you just say a thing like that in front of everyone, Yamcha!"

Master Roshi sighed and stood up too. "Now, now, everyone calm down. Besides, that wouldn't work unless she did it for the king, he's the one calling the shots," he started stroking his beard in thought, "Or maybe this prince fella, since he's the strongest-" His musings were cut off by a tea pot being flung at his head, knocking him over. Bulma officially had enough of the jokes being made at her expense.

"Well I guess that makes you two even," Krillin chuckled.

"And just what do you mean by _that_ , Krillin?" Bulma raised an eyebrow at him suspiciously.

"Hey! Cool it, Krillin!" Yamcha hissed.

"Spill it, baldy," Bulma threatened.

"Oh, darn, I guess you didn't tell her." Krillin looked down and tapped the tips of his index fingers together sheepishly.

"Tell me _what?"_

Yamcha glared at Krillin accusingly.

"Krillin, I'm waiting!" Bulma yelled.

Krillin flinched and kept tapping his fingers together, refusing to meet the scary woman's eyes. "Well, you know, it's just that, well, you guys are kind of even now since Yamcha went on a couple of dates while you were-"

"You son of a bitch!" Bulma exploded at her former beau.

"It was just dinner, _you_ slept with an alien!"

Bulma lept across the table at him practically frothing at the mouth with rage—she wanted to rip his face off-but her plans of doing so were thwarted by a recovered Master Roshi, who grabbed her by the waist and subdued her.

"Oh no you don't! You two better take this one outside before you wreck my house!"

"Fine!" Bulma shook the old man off of her and stomped out of the door, followed by Yamcha.

"Listen, Bulma, I-" he started to explain.

"I can't believe you, Yamcha!" she cut him off, "You're no better than I am, you know! At least I came clean, but you kept laying all the guilt on me knowing that you cheated too! You're a snake, ugh, you disgust me!"

"It was just dinner, nothing even happened!"

Bulma shook her head. She didn't believe that for a second, but whether or not anything happened was beside the point. "Hello! Newsflash, Yamcha: going on dates with other girls while you're in a relationship is cheating! Then you lied about it!"

"Hey, I didn't lie I just didn't tell you about it because it didn't-"

"Which is the same as lying, doofus!"

"Oh, give me a break! You slept with that guy!"

"Yes, I did, I admitted it and said I was sorry so many times! That doesn't mean you get to keep bringing it up in front of everyone every 5 minutes! And even if I didn't cheat, I still would have came home to find out that you did and broke up with you. The result would be the same either way because we're _both_ cheaters...and that's why we're over."

Yamcha was unable to dispute her reasoning. He stood there looking at her with feelings of confliction present on his features while neither of them spoke.

"I didn't have sex with her, but we did mess around," he finally confessed.

"Okay," Bulma said softly in acceptance. It didn't sting her as much as she thought it should have.

Yamcha took a step toward her. "I guess this is really it, huh?"

Bulma's feet moved forward, closing the distance between them. "Yeah..feels strange." Over the past three years, she'd gotten used to their routine of making and breaking up, but all the other break ups lacked the air of finality this one had. It was over for good this time. They both knew it.

"I really did love you, Bulma."

"Me too. I still do."

Yamcha reached out and pulled her into a tight hug. "Same here," he said with his chin resting on the crown of her head.

"Still friends?" she whispered into his chest.

"You got it, babe."

* * *

King Vegeta looked up from the book he was reading when his son strode into his study and dropped a large stack of papers onto his desk.

"All the documentation you requested. Every mission I personally lead is accounted for."

The king nodded and resumed his book. "Good. Your punishment is suspended."

Vegeta was a little taken aback by how easily he was being let off the hook, but was pleased nonetheless. He decided right then that he would celebrate the end of his punishment by having a _friendly_ spar with Toma. He had reliable intel that Toma was responsible for the flourishing gambling ring centered around how long he could hold out before giving into Moon Rapture. Dismantling that operation was on his to-do list, even though the betting was in vain because he'd formulated a plan to ensure that he, and perhaps all Saiyan males in the future, wouldn't have to suffer Moon Rapture anymore.

"Father, I have a request."

"Speak."

"I want to expand the science wing to include a department dedicated to studying Saiyan biology."

King Vegeta closed his book and set it aside. "What is this about, Vegeta?"

"This is about the fact that we know too little about the chemistry of our bodies, and mastering that knowledge will be the key to unlocking the full potential of our power. For instance, if we were to uncover the reason behind why we Saiyans get stronger after being beaten to the brink of death, we could develop ways to replicate that result minus the life threatening injury. The Oozaru transformation is another area ripe for study. Father, what if it were possible to obtain the transformation without a moon? Through scientific effort, I believe this and more is within our grasp."

"It does sound potentially advantageous," King Vegeta commented neutrally. "I will give you space in the science wing for a small team, and a modest budget, for starters. Show me some noteworthy results and I will expand your budget and upgrade you to a full department. I want monthly reports on your research and only Saiyan scientists working on this." If there indeed were hidden secrets in the Saiyan biology, he didn't want outsiders privy to that information.

"Of course. Thank you, father." Vegeta bowed and left the study.

"He's up to something," King Vegeta murmured to himself once he was alone.

* * *

The palace ship bay was a massive facility that was divided into several sections designated to receive or send certain kinds of ships for certain purposes. The prince was currently heading to the section reserved for small to medium sized import ships that brought special order items from other planets.

"My prince," the sector manager, a Saiyan with blond hair gathered on his head in a messy topknot, greeted him and bowed. "Have you come to see about your shipment?"

"No," Vegeta dismissed, unknowing and uncaring of what shipment he was referring to. "I want you to find out something for me, Ruti." Ruti was a Saiyan of unexceptional power, but what he lacked in strength he made up for with his sleuthing abilities. He was the one who found out exactly who was behind the bets being made about him-not a simple feat, because Toma was a sly one. The trickster instigated the whole operation by making his comrades believe they'd come up with the idea themselves. Ruti always came through for Vegeta on the intel front and was one of precious few people he trusted and occasionally confided in.

"There's nothing I can't find out," Ruti assured him with a mischievous grin. "What do you wish to know, Prince Vegeta?"

"This conversation is not to be repeated to anyone, am I clear?"

"Kagami clear."

"Good. I want you to find out if anyone among the elite guard is afflicted with Moon Rapture and who they have it for."

Ruti's blond eyebrows jumped high upon his forehead at the unexpected request.

"Too difficult for you to handle?" Vegeta challenged.

"I told you, there's nothing I can't find out," Ruti laughed and held up his index finger, "One week is all I need."

Vegeta smirked. Ruti always quoted a self-imposed time frame that varied depending upon whatever he was investigating. And he never missed his deadline. "A whole week, Ruti? Don't tell me you're losing your touch."

"Ouch, I have feelings, you know!" Ruti protested good-naturedly. "This is a delicate matter, just give me time to work my magic and I promise I'll deliver." What the prince asked of him wasn't going to be easy, though nothing he wanted ever was. But in this matter, the difficulty level was due three major factors, the first being that there were 50 Saiyans that made up the elite guard in the palace. Many of them were mated, but that didn't necessarily mean they had Moon Rapture. He had to distinguish which ones were simply mated and which ones had chosen mates. "Chosen mate" was a title given to a mate chosen, not by the male himself as the name might suggest, but by the Moon Rapture.

Secondly, men who had Moon Rapture kept that information as confidential as possible. Only every now and then, as in the case of his prince, was it apparent. He'd heard all about the brief but legendary saga of Prince Vegeta and the blue haired Earthling. It was a month later and the planet was still buzzing about it. Ruti gathered the prince's case was obvious because he was nose deep in denial about his condition, had he been aware and accepting of it he would have strove to be far more discrete about exhibiting telltale signs of Moon Rapture. If any members of the elite guard did have the Rapture, they were doing just that.

Ruti's third obstacle was that the palace elite guard was an exclusive group. He had very little time to strengthen associations he already had with some of them, without drawing suspicion upon himself, in order to fulfill his objective . Truthfully, his one week deadline was rather ambitious but he wasn't worried, he was looking forward to the challenge provided by this newest, and unique, assignment. Ruti wondered what the prince planned to do with the information.

"But why the sudden interest in Moon Rapture, Prince Vegeta, if you don't mind me asking?"

"I do," Vegeta said casually and walked away from him.

Ruti smiled at the prince's back, he was probably the only person besides the king who could inquire about the prince's affairs without penalty. As Vegeta was walking away, Ruti remembered the import ship being unloaded behind him.

"Hey, Prince Vegeta! Can I get you to sign off on this while you're here?" he called out to him.

He turned to see what Ruti was talking about and immediately recognized his forgotten shipment. It seemed like he'd ordered them forever ago; eight new toys lined up for him to play with, each from a different planet, each more exotic and beautiful than the next. He walked back for a closer inspection.

"Do they meet your approval?" Ruti asked, hoping the answer was yes so he wouldn't have to go through the trouble of shipping them back.

Looking at them, Vegeta couldn't say he didn't approve, he'd gotten exactly what he ordered it was just that, at the time he ordered it, he imagined he would be more affected when it arrived. Perhaps he would be had it arrived over a month ago.

"Prince Vegeta?"

Vegeta said nothing and moved to stand directly in front of the first one, she was a lavender skinned creature with long flowing, pure white hair-an undeniably gorgeous female. All of eight of them were. He'd requested the most beautiful woman from each of their respective planets and he was sure that if he'd personally searched those planets himself, he would not find better than what was in front of him. As he looked the white haired woman up and down, he knew he shouldn't have any complaints but-

"What the hell are you looking at?" he asked her.

The woman instantly lowered her ice gray eyes. "Forgive me for being so bold as to look at you, your highness."

Vegeta moved on to the next one, this one had light blue skin, golden eyes, and emerald green hair worn in a single braid. An elegant beauty. "Do you feel honored to be my whore?" he said flippantly.

"Of course, my prince," she responded automatically and he scowled at her in annoyance.

Ruti was perplexed by the scene. "What is he doing?" the sector manager whispered to himself as he watched Vegeta move on to the third woman.

The third one was bright pink skinned with hip length curls of honey blonde hair, and blue eyes. She dropped them when the prince stood in front of her.

"Look at me," Vegeta ordered her, and he stared at her for an extended amount of time.

 _Her eyes..._

"I sent for the most beautiful woman your planet had to offer, could you be more hideous?" He watched her eyes carefully in expectation.

"Please accept my apologies for not being beautiful enough for you, your majesty."

There wasn't the barest flicker of fire in her eyes when he insulted her. They were the same brilliant hue as _hers_ yet they were bland in comparison. This woman—all of these women were so docile, so compliant, so _tame._ It was sickening. Vegeta didn't continue down the line, he turned his back on the beauties and stalked off. The flabbergasted sector manager was quick to hail him.

"Prince Vegeta, wait! Is-, is there something wrong? You don't-, so you-, do you not want them, or..."

Vegeta stopped to give Ruti a bored look, then he swept that bored gaze over the women. They really were stunning but-

"What more can they offer me?" the prince thought aloud.

"Well? Say something," Ruti urged the women, spurred by his desire to avoid the work of processing them again for shipping when they'd just been processed for receiving.

"We only wish to please you, Prince Vegeta," the women said in unison and bowed.

The display made Vegeta's eye twitch.

"Meet Ruti. If you want to please me, then please him." He pointed at Ruti and walked away.

Ruti's mouth fell open as the eight goddesses descended upon him, rubbing his chest, caressing his face, and draping their luscious bodies around him. "P-, Prince Vegeta?" he squeaked.

"Take the rest of the day off, Ruti. Have fun," Vegeta said, waving over his shoulder.

* * *

That night the prince found himself wandering the halls of the palace listlessly, unable to sleep. Sleep was but a wishful thought lately. Lately, he was out of sync with himself. He felt as though his body was sending him signals trying to tell him something important...messages he could not interpret. It began with a phantom pain in his chest, especially on nights like this, but he just felt bereft inside now as if he was emptied of a vital part of his being. He would rather welcome the pain; even though it was illusory, it was better than the nothingness overtaking him. The nothingness made him feel like he would never feel again. How long had it been since he'd felt something? In his mind he knew it wasn't that long ago so why, to his soul, did it seem like an eternity had passed by since then?

Lately, he was questioning himself relentlessly. At this moment he was questioning why he felt the need to revisit the place that haunted him. Why? Because it was the only place he knew to go, to _feel._ He was at the door now. There was a paradise on the other side of it guaranteed to plunge him into hell, he'd have to be a masochist to open it.

He opened it.

When he stepped inside, her scent embraced him like it was welcoming him home after a lingering journey. He had been afraid it wouldn't be there anymore and equally afraid it would. His feet carried him deeper into the euphoric room he'd tried his best to stay away from-that he'd forbidden himself to go to. He'd given up these chambers he possessed all his life and taken up residence in another area of the palace that was not tainted by the essence his senses were greedily indulging in now.

 _Her._

Vegeta felt her all around him and when he closed his eyes he saw her vividly, but she wasn't really there. It was a cruelty, and there had to be a source for this cruelty-he wasn't crazy. Vegeta sniffed the air with purpose now, the scent was more powerful than the first time he endeavored to discover it's point of origin, but that wasn't of help because it still flooded the room and seemed to come at him from everywhere and nowhere, just more forcefully than before. Vegeta went over to his new bed he never did sleep in and flipped it over violently, causing it to crash into the wall behind it and break. He tossed his dresser next, shattering the closed doors to his bedroom balcony then sent a sofa in the same direction, flying outside and going over the balcony. He threw open the doors to his wardrobe, sniffing inside manically before slamming the doors shut again, causing them to break from the hinges, then sent the wardrobe flying too. Vegeta stilled upon seeing a small black wad of fabric on the floor where the wardrobe had been. He bent down to pick it up, feeling much relief and trepidation at holding it in his hands. Against his better judgment he brought the panties to his nose and inhaled, then his brain was floating in his skull and he forgot himself and everything else-his only concern was his high.

A knock on the door jolted him out of the spell he was under and in a moment of extreme irrationality, he hoped it was _her_ on the other side _._

"My prince?"

It was Zorra.

He ignored her and he ignored the fact that this was the ninth gorgeous, tangible woman he was passing up on today in favor of the memory of one—and her used panties. To his disgust, but unable to stop himself, he went in for a taste and once again he felt the urge to chase the owner of the intimate garment he was sucking on across the cosmos. Could he be more of a weakling? Vegeta forced his face away from the material. He was a disgrace; it had only been a month and his grip on sanity was gone. How on Vegeta had his uncle managed to do this for _three years?_

It was painfully clear to him how flagrantly he'd misjudged the man, he had new found respect for him now. His uncle might have failed in the end but no weakling could have persevered for as long as he did, and like his uncle, he would keep on persevering until he was able to complete his plans to rid himself of this misery. It would definitely work. Vegeta squeezed his eyes shut and slowly released energy through his palms until the devilish temptation in his hands was no more, then he told himself for the—he'd done so too many times to count—time...

"I won't chase her again."

 **AN: I know, finally I updated right?! I thought it'd be sooner too:/ Been busy working and plus I keep changing the story. I had to scrap the chapter titles because it doesn't really work anymore now that the story is longer than planned. Eh, I suck at chapter titles (and titles in general) it was just something new I was trying:-)**

 **Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Hmm, what do you guys think Vegeta's plans are, huh? I'll think I'll manage to surprise, ya;-)**

 **Oh! And for those of you who haven't been to Planet Vegeta before, "Kagami clear" is a commonly used phrase there, similar to the phrase "Crystal clear" used on areas of Earth. The meaning comes from a large river on Vegeta called Kagami River. The Kagami River is so clear that you can see straight down to the riverbed. So that's why they tend to say "Kagami clear" to communicate they understood someone clearly :-)**

 **OR I made all that up and just used the word Kagami because it means mirror in Japanese. Whichever suits your fancy:)))**

 **REVIEW!**

 ****One more thing, I hope nobody was thrown off by a Saiyan having blonde hair in this story...most stories I read usually have it that all pure Saiyans have black hair but in the anime they did show flashbacks of Saiyans with blonde, red and brown hair too sooo that's what I'm going with!**


	8. Chapter 8

"Sire, we just received word Kakarot made his departure from Earth, he will be arriving in five days," Zorn informed the king and fell in step beside him in the palace breezeway.

"Five days? It took the Earthling's twice as long to get here before."

"Dr. Brief made a faster ship and she's sending three gravity training rooms built to simulate 500x the gravity of our planet."

"Good. Maybe this will provide Vegeta with a proper challenge and he can stop filling up the med bay," the king said with hope. Unfortunately, his son had taken to beating the life out of every soldier that crossed his path all week—more than half of the Elite guard was out of commission. Ordinarily, the king was stringent about doling out punishments and wouldn't dream of ending them prematurely but it couldn't be helped, the circumstance required leniency. There couldn't be a worse time to forbid a Saiyan from fighting than when he was going through Moon Rapture.

Zorn nodded in agreement. "Also, we received another distress call from the Jumins, what response do you want to give?"

"The same response I always give. That planet is of no worth to me, they'll have to fight their own battles."

"Yes, sire." Zorn bowed and left the king.

* * *

"Come on, Ruti, you're really not going to get in on this?" Ruti's assistant manager, Grean, asked him.

"You guys don't give up," Ruti chuckled. The prince personally squashed the betting pool last week, levying harsh penalties against those found to be or rumored to be involved, but now the operation was back in full force like it'd never left.

"It's too big to be stopped now, the pot is up to 200,000 oru! Everyone is getting in on this—e _veryone_ ," Grean emphasized in a conspiring tone.

Ruti did not doubt the man; he had knowledge of higher ups within the palace placing bets. "And what are the odds on him beating the Rapture?"

" _Beating_ the Rapture? No chance! He'll go after her sooner or later, it's not a matter of if, but when."

"I'm not a betting man, but if I were, I'd bet on the prince," Ruti said knowingly.

"Good thing you're not a betting man, you'd lose that bet easily. He's on the verge of breaking any day now, everyone's trying damn hard to stay clear of him so they don't end up in a tank. Not that you could get one right away, I hear there's a waiting list."

Ruti's scouter beeped as he was laughing at Grean's comments. He received one gravelly word when he accepted the communication:

"Library."

And the link ended.

"I'll be back, Grean. I'm needed elsewhere."

* * *

The library of the Saiyan palace was a room hardly anyone ventured into that contained just enough books in it to be considered a library. At a corner table the prince was sleeping in a reclining position with his boots perched on the tabletop littered with books. The sound of someone clearing their throat jolted him out of his sleep, and in a swift, graceful movement, he was sitting upright with a glowing outstretched palm poised to eliminate the intruder. Vegeta lowered his hand upon seeing who it was and ran his fingers through his thick mane, pausing to attend to an itch. "What have you got for me, Ruti?" he asked in a tired voice and settled back into his chair, letting his eyes fall closed again.

Ruti disregarded the increased rate at which his heart was beating, at nearly being blasted away, and said, "My investigation points to one member of the elite guard having Moon Rapture, but I haven't been able to confirm-"

"Tell me who," Vegeta interrupted with his eyes still closed.

"Toma."

Vegeta's eyes flew open, his feet dropped from the table, and he leaned forward in his chair, giving Ruti a better look at his face. The white of the prince's eyes were tinted red and the skin around them was shadowy complexioned. "Say what?" he said harshly.

"If my sources are correct, he has Moon Rapture for a 1st class woman named, Okra."

"Okra..." Vegeta repeated more to himself than Ruti, "I know that name."

"She is formerly of the second class, she was upgraded to first class after winning a rank battle a couple of months ago. You were the officiator, Prince Vegeta," Ruti offered.

The prince frowned in concentration while he forced his sleep deprived mind to recall that event. Toma was there but he left abruptly at the end. He remembered that because his scouter detected a spike in Toma's power level that made him look in his direction just as he was leaving. Toma seemed agitated. Learning of his Moon Rapture for Okra made that detail stand out in Vegeta's mind as unusual now. At the time he assumed it was because of the result of the battle but that couldn't have been the reason, Okra winning should have pleased him. It clearly did not. Vegeta's frown deepened, he felt like he was overlooking something crucial. Ruti waited patiently for the prince to finish his rumination and was starting to wonder if he had forgotten he was there until the heavy atmosphere was dispelled by an outburst of laughter.

"This is better news than I could have hoped for, this is perfection," Vegeta declared more energetically.

Ruti lowered his eyes in shame for what he was about to say next. "My prince, I gave you my word that I would deliver this information to you in a week's time, but I haven't confirmed it with 100% certainty. Please allow me a couple more days to-"

"No need to confirm. The bastard has it and he has it for her, I'm sure of it." The prince smirked in his signature fashion, but in his questionable state of health it gave him a deranged appearance. Ruti was unsettled by it and his off behavior.

"Prince Vegeta, are you...okay?"

Vegeta got up to approach the blond Saiyan and place his hand firmly on the man's shoulder. "I will be soon thanks to you, my friend."

Ruti's concern was forgotten as he was overcome with speechlessness at the prince calling him "friend." And he looked like he truly meant it. Even if he didn't mean it, Ruti felt honored by the suggestion.

"Did you enjoy those women I gave you?" Vegeta asked suddenly.

Ruti blushed. "No, I mean, I didn't-, after you left I made sure they were transported safely back to their home planets."

Vegeta nodded and returned his hand to his side. "That's all, Ruti. Good work." Ruti bowed and left the library and Vegeta stared after him in thought. In the recent past he would have ridiculed Ruti for not taking advantage of his offering, but he didn't have the heart to do so as he'd been questioning his own penchant for bedding several different women, going back and forth between asking himself; to what end? And conversely; why the hell not? The old him—the him he was before he meeting _her—_ loved being with exotic women from all over the universe. He loved foreign women best because they presented him with all manner of variety not present amongst women of his own race; different skin tones and textures, different hair, different erogenous zones, different ways of carrying out the oldest dance in the universe.

He'd been with two-headed women, winged women, amphibious women, giant women, women with fur coated skin, he'd had a Metamorese* threesome, he'd even been with a transparent woman—literally, her body was transparent. She was of the Crystillian race, a people with a very simple inner body system as they had no need for food and water, subsisting only off of light. He could watch himself inside of her, could literally see her heart beating faster in response to his touches and see the process of her orgasmic fluids and his own inside of her when they climaxed together. That was one of many awe inducing sexual experiences he would have never had if he was a monogamous man or limited himself to women of his own race. The bodies of women from other worlds held the most fascinating surprises, you never knew what was in store for you when you undressed them. For him, the lure of that had been a siren call.

Now he was thinking of liquidating his harem of exotic women. His affinity for different women was known throughout the empire so planets regularly sent women to satisfy his needs and stay in good graces. The women were well taken care of and compensated for their services, and free to go at any time. He switched out his collection periodically to keep things interesting, but he did have a few favorites he kept on hand. Vegeta never considered this would get old to him, it was merely his way of life, but ever since his unfortunate diagnosis he had no inclinations toward those women. He only thought of one woman these days and hadn't been with another woman since her—it was absurd. But the harem was staying, it was the Rapture that must go, and with the piece of information Ruti just delivered to him it was time to get his plan to free himself of it underway.

* * *

"Oh sweetie, are you feeling any better?" Mrs. Brief asked as her daughter was leaving.

"Yeah, I'm good now," Bulma shrugged, "I think I've just been working too hard."

"Or maybe it was something you ate? Oh my goodness! Could it have been something I made that got you sick?" Panchy Brief's face twisted with worry as she contemplated which dish she made recently was responsible.

"Don't sweat it, mom, your cooking is too good to make anyone throw up. Catch you later," Bulma said with a wink and went out of the front door. When she got to the driveway she activated a capsule and got in the red hover car that appeared. After working herself to the bone to get the ship and gravity rooms ready to be sent to Planet Vegeta that morning, a shopping spree was the reward she decided on. Bulma wondered if Goku would feel at home on his native planet and how he and Vegeta would get along. The thought of the two of them meeting made Bulma a little antsy, not because of the fighting they would definitely do, but because she wondered if her name would come up in conversation between them. What if Goku mentioned her to Vegeta? What would Vegeta say about her? What if he told Goku about what happened between them? What if Vegeta said bad things about her or bragged about sleeping with her? Or worse, what if he'd forgotten about her already? What if he didn't even remember her name? He was a handsome, wealthy prince; he probably slept with so many women he couldn't remember all their faces, let alone names.

He had to remember hers, though. She still remembered how it sounded the first time he said her name when he was teasing her over the scouter with his voice low, and velvety smooth. She didn't want to admit how much she secretly wished she'd had the foresight to record that transmission so she could replay it an obscene amount of times. But her imagination worked well enough, and as she resurrected that moment in her mind now, it produced the same tingles she felt the first time she heard it. Bulma began thinking of all the other times he said her name, like at the feast when he granted Earth admission into the Saiyan Empire. She couldn't remember hearing her name said so powerfully before, he said her name like it was more than a name—like it was the most important name ever, and she felt more powerful and important just from hearing him say it.

She loved the sound of his voice and it was sinful in its ability to make her do whatever it wanted. That night she spent with him, it brushed all her fear and inhibitions away, it made her feel sexier, and _bad—_ bad enough to handle any forbidden pleasure he wanted from her. It gave her the confidence to take on the new sexual experiences he introduced her to, whenever she doubted herself his sensual voice in her ear didn't. She wanted to regret doing the things she did with him but she couldn't, she never felt anything so amazing as his body commanding hers. And that wicked tail of his-

"Ugh! Cut it out already!" Bulma screamed at herself, ignoring the curious looks she received from the other drivers waiting at the red light. They couldn't possibly understand what it was like to be infatuated with an alien prince she hardly knew, who was just as much of a jerk as he was irresistible. She uncomfortably adjusted her position in the driver's seat, her underwear was damp now thanks to her wayward thoughts about Vegeta. A regular and annoying occurrence every time she thought of him, and he was never far from the forefront of her mind. It was hard for her to imagine a time when the Saiyan prince was not relentlessly occupying her brain.

Bulma made a left when the light turned green and drove into the parking lot of the mall. As she was looking for a good spot to park her mind drifted to a conversation she had with Yamcha the day before. He came over to pick up some stuff he left at her house and after some usual small talk he surprised her by asking:

"Hey, so what's the deal with that guy you cheated on me with?"

She asked him why he was asking. Wasn't that a touchy topic for him? And why ask now?

"I'm just curious. You haven't been the same since you got back," he explained.

She was always daydreaming and more into her work than usual, according to him. She lied and told him she was fine and it was nothing to worry about. Truthfully, she was dying to tell him because she didn't have anyone she could talk to about Vegeta, but it'd be insensitive of her to talk about her feelings for another guy to the ex-boyfriend she cheated on, with said guy. Or so she thought until Yamcha revealed he was dating the bimbo he cheated on her with. Bulma let everything out then, censoring the explicit parts. Except for a comment (that earned him a death glare) about how it "Sure is nice to be a prince" when she told him about the girl that came to Vegeta's room, he was silent throughout. When she finished her story, Yamcha had one thing to say:

"So call the guy."

Naturally, she asked him if he was crazy and if he had heard anything she just told him. To drive her point home, she went back and emphasized the parts of the story that illustrated why she couldn't do that—why she'd _die_ if she did that.

"I still say call the guy."

Yamcha refused to back down from his life-threatening suggestion. She felt on the verge of flat lining just thinking about doing it, how could he casually advise her to do something so risky?

"I don't know, Bulma, sounds like this guy might like you. You ran out of there without getting his side of things, it might not be what you think. Can't hurt to give him a call and ask," Yamcha offered with a rare aura of sageness before he left the compound.

Bulma absolutely was not going to "give him a call and ask" but after Yamcha suggested it, she kept wondering what would happen if she did. If she were brave enough she could use the scouter he gave her to call him directly. Sometimes she picked it up and fiddled with it in her hands while trying to imagine how the conversation would go. Every possible exchange her mind conjured ended with him laughing at her. Laughing at her that she was so stupid to hope it was anything more than a one-night stand. Laughing at her that she had feelings for him after only a day. Laughing at her that she would embarrass herself by calling him at all.

She wasn't about to throw herself at his mercy and get her heart stomped on. He could be pretty cruel when he wanted to be—she didn't know him very well but she knew that about him at least. On more than one occasion he acted like an ass to her and laughed at her expense, she was convinced he'd give a similar reaction if he knew that she hadn't been able to get him off her mind since she left. He honestly wasn't worth thinking about and she was sure he wasn't thinking about her. If he was, wouldn't she have heard from him by now? It would be a simple matter for him to contact her, the fact that he hadn't was more proof along with the other proof that it was past time for her to forget about him and turn her thoughts toward better things—like the retail therapy she was about to embark on.

West City Mall was just opening so there weren't many people in there yet, and that was how Bulma preferred it. Here first move was to the bathroom on the first level to clean up her traitorous vagina, then she grabbed a juice from the nearest vending machine to rehydrate. Lack of hydration was the reason she figured she threw up earlier, sometimes she'd get so immersed in her work that she'd neglect to eat or drink adequately for days and end up feeling nauseated from dehydration. Though, that morning was the first time she'd ever thrown up from it so it was kind of strange, but she felt fine now so she didn't give any more thought to it as she got on the mall escalator.

Bulma rolled her eyes when she noticed the guy on the down escalator next to her was checking her out as she was going up—while holding hands with his girlfriend. Bulma could recall being in that girl's position several times because of Yamcha's wandering eyes. They had plenty of arguments over it and Yamcha always insisted that he "can't help it" and "all guys do it" and that it "doesn't mean anything." Nothing he said ever made it less sleazy to her. There had to be a guy somewhere in the world that would adore her so much he wouldn't notice another woman if she was standing naked in the middle of the highway twirling fire torches, while wearing nothing but a pair of oversized clown shoes. Bulma giggled at the mental picture but the giggling suddenly turned into gagging when she stepped off the escalator onto the second level.

She slapped her hand over her mouth and sprinted to a nearby trash cart a female custodian was pushing. The lady read the situation and lifted the lid for her just in time for her to all but dive into the trash can to puke. "Atta girl, get it all out, I'm here for ya," she encouraged while holding Bulma's hair back for her. Bulma started to thank her but was cut off by another round of vomiting.

"Aw, that was that expensive juice, wasn't it? We'll getcha another one, honey, don't worry," the custodian assured her.

"Thanks," Bulma rasped out when she was done retching, then she slowly straightened and took the napkin the lady was holding out for her to wipe her mouth. "Thanks, uh," Bulma squinted at her nametag, "Ma?"

"It's Mae, see? The E's just faded but you can call me Ma, everyone else 'round here does! I'm the Mall Ma!" she said, beaming proudly.

"Okay… _Ma_ ," Bulma said awkwardly. "Sorry about all this but I'm glad you happened to be here, I would've thrown up all over myself otherwise. And thanks for holding my hair."

"You don't gotta thank me, honey, it comes with the territory!"

"Oh, right." Bulma assumed Ma was referring to the territory of being a janitor.

Ma reached into the side compartment of her cart to pull out a bottle of water and extended it to Bulma. "Here, you need to get some fluid back in you. Didn't open it yet, it's nice and cold."

"I can't, that's yours. I'll go buy one," Bulma declined politely.

Ma did not pull the water bottle back, instead she raised her eyebrows and looked at Bulma sternly.

"Or I'll just drink this one," Bulma said laughing nervously. She quickly opened it and took a drink so she wouldn't get in trouble with the lady. Ma looked like somebody you don't mess with.

"Atta girl. Is this your first?"

Bulma frowned in confusion and swallowed the water in her mouth. "My first what?"

"Your first baby, honey! Don't cha know you're pregnant?"

"No, no, no, I'm not pregnant or anything. I just, well, I've been really into my work and-"

"You ate some bad food?"

"No, actually I haven't been eating that much or-"

"You caught that bug going 'round?"

Bulma sighed. "No, Ma, listen to me, I think I just got a little dehy-"

"You got that bulimia stuff?"

"No! I'm trying to tell you-"

"Then it's a _baby!_ It's always one of the 4 B's."

"The 4 B's?"

"Yep; bad food, bug, bulimia, or baby. You see a woman throwing up, it's always one of them 4. You're a skinny thing, but I didn't peg you for a bulimic."

"Um, thanks, but I'm not pregnant, okay?"

"When's the last time you got your period?"

"Ma!" Bulma hissed and glanced around self-consciously, hoping no one heard, then her body went stiff when she thought about the question belatedly and realized-

 _Oh my God._

* * *

"Prince Vegeta, I have your new model scouter for you."

Vegeta sighed in annoyance because he had been about to get on his scouter. He took it off and handed it to the messenger. "You can go ahead and disable it, I don't need anything on it."

"Yes sir." The Saiyan handed the prince his new scouter and took the old one.

The earpiece was a slimmer design and the lens was clear. Vegeta thought about demanding another one with a red lens later as he continued down the hall and activated the scouter as he walked. When he got it running he contacted—

"Nappa," Vegeta barked.

"Yes sir, Vegeta, sir!"

The prince narrowed his eyes. "Nappa, are you drinking?"

Nappa downed the rest of his beer and slammed the mug on the counter of the bar he was patronizing. "No, prince, sir!"

Vegeta growled at the blatant lie. "Pull yourself together, Nappa, I have an errand for you." The inebriated Saiyan nodded his head in a lazy motion as he listened to what the prince wanted, then dragged himself off the bar stool to go do it. Vegeta contacted his newly formed team in the science wing next and gave them some instructions. "I'll be there in 15 with our test subject," he said before ending the conversation.

An elite who spotted the prince as he was moving through the palace, observed his course and got on his scouter. "Code Blue," he said.

* * *

"Code Blue, gentlemen," Squaz informed the others in the training room.

"Damn, what do we do?" someone asked.

"What _can_ we do? Somebody's getting fucked up," another said matter of factly.

"As long as Toma's here, we have nothing to worry about," Aspargon said. "The prince is probably coming to finish him off."

Toma cut his eyes at Aspargon as he went through the motions of his kata but said nothing because there was a good chance he was right; he almost didn't make it to a re-gen tank in time the last time the prince paid him a visit. Toma ignored the speculation going on around him about why the prince was coming and if he would be killed this time. He also ignored the sound of the training room door behind him opening and everyone's voices going quiet in response, though he could not ignore the fear that clenched his gut when he heard the prince say:

"Come with me, Toma."

 **AN: Yo! Did you people miss me? I've been busy, sorry I haven't updated in a minute. I come to you a better writer than I was before, though! I went back and edited all the chapters and I think they read a lot better now. I'm working on a book and some other projects so I'm serious about improving my writing skills, which means I take my fanfics serious because they give me valuable practice:)**

 **Anyway, I'm loving all the reviews, I still can't believe I have this many! Keep letting me know what you think, keep pming me-all that! There's not much action in this chapter but that'll change in the next chapter, you don't want to miss what's coming.**

 **And about *Metamorese threesome—Remember, Goku learned the Fusion Technique from a people called the Metamorese, so Vegeta having a Metamorese threesome means he had sex with two women that were fused into one woman.**

 **& ** khalidalkhansa **I LOL'ed at you calling the reviewers for this story "Moonies" haha that's cute, I like that! :)**


	9. Chapter 9

"You should've slapped him in the head and you should've slapped that gal in the head. I would've gave 'em both a good slappin'," Ma said.

"Ugh," Bulma groaned in her hands. She'd run to the mall drugstore to buy a pregnancy test, and when it came out positive, she bought three more to be sure. When they all came out positive, she ran back to cry on Ma's shoulder and poured out her story in one of the relatively secluded lounge areas on the second floor.

Ma shook her head and sucked her teeth. "Thinks he's a hot ticket just 'cause he's a underwear model in some country nobody's heard of. I ain't never heard of no 'Saiyana.'"

Bulma cringed inwardly at her lie inspired by the underwear model on the store window poster behind Ma. It sounded ridiculous but she couldn't say he was an alien prince—that would sound even more ridiculous. "Most people haven't, it's really small and really, really far away," she offered lamely.

Ma was still shaking her head and sucking her teeth. "All us women fall for the player type at some point in our lives. I was there once too, honey, I was _there._ "

"What happened?" Bulma asked.

"His wife."

Bulma's mouth fell open.

Ma nodded her head. "Me and his wife got into a tussle and I gave her a black eye. I felt bad about it, but it was self-defense. I wasn't gonna let her mess up my pretty face just 'cause her husband was a dog. I didn't know he was married, I ain't that kind of gal, honey."

"Gotta do what you gotta do," Bulma agreed with a sigh.

"We only lasted three months, but those were some powerful feelings. My head always felt like it was up there with the clouds when I was with him. That's how it is with that foreign fella, ain't it?"

Bulma nodded and sighed again.

"Keep sighing like that and you'll be all outta air! But from what you say, there's a chance he felt it for you too. He's single, ain't he?

Bulma squinted in thought and looked up at the ceiling. After what Ma told her, she was thinking he could have a hidden girlfriend or wife somewhere for all she knew—because she hardly knew him. "As far as I know," she said, but added under her breath, "Except for a possible brothel in his life."

"What was that, honey?"

"Nothing," she shook her head, "But it was just a one-night stand, Ma, and in about nine months my name will be Ma, too," Bulma said forlornly.

"Honey, if it was just a one-night stand you wouldn't be sitting here telling the Mall Ma all about it. Love is a mysterious thing, it don't care if you know somebody for 1 year or 1 minute, you hear me?"

Bulma nodded glumly.

Ma frowned at her expression. "You got his phone number?"

"Sort of," she said with a shrug and looked down.

Ma reached out and grabbed her into a tight hug, crushing her head against her huge pillowy bosom. "You call that fella and tell him you're having his baby, and if he comes back into your life, don't be a secret to keep. You been letting your heart do all the driving, let your brain take the wheel."

 _Let my brain take the wheel?_

"But…how?" She'd tried desperately to do just that when it came to him, and had crashed every time.

She loosened her hold on Bulma and pulled back to look her in the eyes very seriously. "Put him to the test and grade him like a teacher. He's gotta prove something to you but you been treating him like a prize that only has to look pretty to get what he wants outta you."

Bulma shook her head. "That's not it, I just, I couldn't think straight around him. It was like he had special powers that made it impossible for me to say no to him."

"Honey, I know he gets you going like a fox with his tail on fire, but that fella's just a regular, red-blooded man. What makes him so special that he ain't gotta do nothing to earn you?"

Bulma went silent. Vegeta wasn't exactly regular in terms of his super human abilities—and the fact that he wasn't human—but was he really that different from any other guy? Ma's question had her asking the same to herself; what _did_ make him so special?

"Grade him," she said again. "Don't let him have you, no matter what he says to you, unless he passes muster, you hear me?"

She nodded, still turning Ma's words over in her mind.

"And bring that baby here to see me, ok? Because, guess what?

"What?"

"I'm gonna be the Mall Grandma!"

Bulma burst out laughing in spite of herself.

"Atta girl," Ma said with eyes full of motherly warmth. "You found your smile."

* * *

Toma was tense as he walked the halls beside the prince, who had said nothing more to him after they left the training room. He did not ask where they were going, it hardly mattered to him where exactly the prince intended to break his bones, he would be just as helpless as last time to stop it. His best hope was to stay alert so he'd have a chance of blocking and dodging just enough to not take the full force of the blows and minimize damage to his vitals. He was surprised, but no less on edge, when the prince led him to the science wing instead of a sparring area.

They entered a lab where scientists were preparing equipment set up around a chair facing a monitor. The prince looked at Toma and nodded at the chair fitted with ki cancelling cuffs. The scientists had him remove his chest armor when he sat down.

"You're not planning to torture me are you, Prince Vegeta?" he asked with a forced laugh when they locked the cuffs on his wrists.

Vegeta ignored him and turned on the monitor as his scientists attached censors to Toma's chest and neck that were linked to the machines. There was a view of an empty lab on the screen.

"I always considered you a nuisance, and your antics just an inane past-time to amuse yourself," the prince addressed him finally. "I've come to realize you are more methodical than I gave you credit for."

Toma forced another laugh. "You had it right the first time. Now you're giving me too much credit, my prince."

Vegeta's scouter beeped.

"We're here," Nappa's voice came to his ear.

"Send her in."

A female Saiyan dressed in armor with a white legless bodysuit appeared on the screen.

"What is she doing there?" Toma immediately asked.

Vegeta observed a spike on the display of the heart monitor connected to Toma.

"Sit tight, Toma. I'm going to go say hello."

When the prince entered the lab the woman's cheeks flushed and she bowed belatedly, almost forgetting to do so out of nervousness.

"Your highness," she greeted with her head lowered.

He walked up to her and lifted up her chin with two fingers. "Okra, it's been a while."

Okra blushed lightly and looked away, unable to sustain eye contact with him. "Y-, yes, my prince," she stammered.

"You were magnificent in that battle, I remember it well," he said, releasing her chin and walking towards a table in the center of the lab.

"I'm-, thank you, I'm honored to hear you say that, your highness." Okra hesitated before following after him. She saw a syringe, four vials, scissors, a bottle of antiseptic, and some cotton swabs assorted on the table when she reached it, and the prince was swapping his white gloves with some clear exam gloves.

Toma struggled against the ki cancellers while he watched the interaction on the screen helplessly. "What's going on? What is he going to do to her?" he asked the scientists. They didn't acknowledge him and continued tracking his biological responses. He gave up on trying to get answers from them and focused on the screen. There was no audio, but he could see very clearly the redness on Okra's cheeks and every longing look she cast at the prince when he wasn't looking. A scene Toma hadn't wanted to witness again.

"I'm conducting research that requires DNA from superior Saiyan warriors," Vegeta explained when she came to stand next to him. "That's why I called you here."

"Me?"

"Why not you? I couldn't think of a more perfect specimen."

Okra's cheeks became hot and she looked down in embarrassment, overwhelmed by his praise and presence.

"I'll need to collect some samples from you."

"Of course, my prince," she said quickly.

She gasped when the prince placed his hands on her hips and lifted her up into a sitting position on the table. He grabbed the antiseptic and dipped one of the cotton swabs in it, then he took her arm and rubbed the crease of her elbow with it.

"Blood." Vegeta stood between the gap of her thighs as he picked up the syringe and inserted it at the disinfected area with the care of a medical professional. Okra gulped and held her breath as he drew blood from her. It crossed her mind to wonder why the prince himself was doing menial lab work, but she was enjoying her current situation too much to deem it anything other than good luck.

The prince carefully deposited the blood into one of the vials and then he set it aside and grabbed the scissors. "Hair." He reached behind her to bring the long brown hair of her high ponytail around to the front and snipped off a tiny amount, then transferred it to a vial. Vegeta took another cotton swab from the table. "Saliva."

Okra opened her mouth so he could swab the inside of her cheek, feeling disappointed by his clinical manner that cooled down steamy thoughts of a passionate tryst on the lab table.

"I need one more sample from you, Okra," he said when the saliva sample was secured in a vial.

"Of course. What is it, my prince?"

Vegeta picked up the remaining cotton swab and held it up to eye level. "Cervix."

Okra's mouth stopped producing spit and her heart faltered in the rhythm of its beat.

"Lie down."

Her heart was beating faster than ever as she laid back onto the table, hardly able to wrap her mind around what was happening—finally, it was happening. She swallowed hard when a warm hand grasped her thigh and cocked her legs open while his other hand pulled the crotch of her bodysuit to the side. Then he took the cotton swab and stuck it inside of her highly aroused flesh, gave it a tantalizing swirl and removed it shortly. He placed that sample in a vial and reinstated her body suit.

"All done," he said, as if he'd merely taken her temperature.

Okra didn't move, she remained on her back breathing heavily with her legs still spread open and wondering, was that really it? She sat up slowly and he was standing in front her, they were face to face with nothing between them but little space and lots of opportunity. She couldn't let it amount to nothing. On impulse, Okra brought her hands up to cup his face and pulled him into a kiss.

"No! Okra, don't!" Toma screamed at the display and squeezed his eyes shut and turned away. "Turn it off!" he yelled to the scientists. "Please, turn it off!"

For Toma's benefit, the prince allowed the kiss to go on for several seconds before pulling away from the eager woman. "Okra," he said.

"Yes, Prince Vegeta?" she asked breathlessly.

"Off you go."

Okra's mouth parted slightly in shock and she nodded, feeling the sting of rejection as she slid off of the table. "Glad to be of service, your highness," she said quietly, then bowed and left.

Vegeta dispassionately studied Toma thrashing around in his chair and cursing the scientists when he got back to the research lab.

"Something wrong, Toma? I thought you of all people would appreciate a good joke."

Toma glared at the prince in hateful silence.

"You know, that last _sample_ wasn't even necessary, that was a little extra I threw in for you. She responds quite well to me, doesn't she?"

He could see that Toma was close to biting his own tongue off in his effort to hold it. The prince was strangely comforted to see someone else suffer in the same manner as he had. He could not wholly fault Toma for what he did because he would have done the same thing—and _was_ doing the same thing. Toma noticed his Moon Rapture before anyone else did, because the extreme symptoms of jealousy Vegeta had watching Bulma with Toma were the same ones Toma had seeing Okra's obvious attraction to him at her rank battle.

"You and I are the same," he said to Toma with a wry chuckle. "We both took revenge on each other for the sake of this wretched disease."

"I am nothing like you, Prince Vegeta."

"Oh? Tell me the discrepancy, I'm sure it's on the tip of your tongue."

"I would have gone after Bulma long ago."

The prince's shoulders went rigid. "Why don't you worry about going after Okra? Funny that I've never seen you do that."

"Unlike you, it is not pride that stops me from pursuing Okra." Toma paused and averted his eyes before explaining, "I killed her brother in a dispute, she will not have me. But if she would, nothing would keep me from being with her."

"You're right, we are nothing alike, you're pathetic!" Vegeta charged angrily. "You would willingly submit yourself to this sickness?"

"It is not a sickness."

"It _is_ , Toma, and you get to be instrumental in finding the cure. Tell anyone what I'm doing here and I will have to call upon Okra again for a more thorough examination. Am I clear?"

Toma just stared at him bitterly.

"Am. I. Clear?" Vegeta repeated.

"Kagami clear," Toma clenched out through his teeth.

* * *

The prince was on a sofa in the living area of his rooms with a book in one hand, a glass of wine in the other. He didn't care for alcohol but he drank it now to numb the ache inside of him. It helped little. Whatever feelings of gratification he derived from getting back at Toma were long gone; all he felt now was the pain in his heart, moored in the nothingness of his soul.

The book he held was one of many written by a Saiyan named Dicchio, a war strategist who lived over a century ago. The man was ahead of his time, living in an age where Saiyans waged war off instinct and looked down on strategy as a tool for the weak, he was reviled for his strategizing. Now he was revered for being a pioneer of Saiyan stratagem and literature. He was also credited for being the first Saiyan poet on record—though he only wrote one poem—said to be about a woman he had Moon Rapture for, though it was not called Moon Rapture in Dicchio's time. The poem was written between the pages of one of his war journals. It was in search of that poem that lead Vegeta to the palace library, and he brought the last few volumes he hadn't looked through to his room to thumb through them now. It wasn't in the book he was holding now, he closed it and finished the wine in his glass before picking up the next book.

He didn't know why he felt compelled to search for it, but here he was at the end of his search because he had only two books left. The prince picked up one of them and started flipping through the pages carefully, his eyes alert so he wouldn't pass over it accidentally. About ¾ of the way into the book he found it, written in small print on the back of a page.

 _Further_

 _You are never old,_

 _You are never done,_

 _You are never plain._

 _My blood is never weary,_

 _My heart is never empty,_

 _My mouth is never satisfied._

 _We have no beginning,_

 _We have always been,_

 _We have no end._

 _-Dicchio._

He didn't know what he was expecting to accomplish by finding it or how he expected to feel when he read it, but the words anguished him and the pain in his heart throbbed deeper. How could he feel pain and emptiness at the same time? He wished he never knew this feeling, he wished he never knew it was possible to feel this way. Painful as it was, he clung to the pain though to escape the nothingness that was closing in around him. With the pain, at least he could still feel, but the nothingness was an infinite pit of hopelessness beyond his power to mitigate. So he sat there reading Dicchio's poem, committing it to memory and embracing the pain that plunged him deeper into misery. He didn't acknowledge the knocking that came upon his door.

"What the hell do you want?" he yelled when the knocking persisted. He dragged himself off the couch when he received more knocking in lieu of a reply, and when he opened the door, Zorra was standing there in a black dress made from barely enough material to be considered a dress.

"I've missed you, baby," she said, wrapping her arms around his neck and curling her tail around his affectionately. If not for her feline nose, eyes, and ears, she would resemble a Saiyan woman.

"I'm in no mood, Zorra." Vegeta sighed when she came into the room anyway and he shut the door behind her. When he turned around, Zorra was bending over, her long black hair flowing over her shoulder and touching the floor as she slipped the dress she was wearing down to her ankles, completely nude now except for black heels with straps that tied up to her thighs.

"In no mood for this?" she asked, looking at him hungrily. Vegeta looked her up and down hungrily, too. Zorra was his favorite out of all the girls in his harem and she knew it. She had large breasts, a tiny waist, and a large bottom—a perfect hourglass figure, and her nipples were pierced with gold rings connected with a thin gold chain, that connected to another chain that extended down to her clit piercing. And she had a high threshold for pain and no gag reflex. This was the remedy he needed.

Zorra rubbed her hands over his bare chest and kissed his lips then licked his neck. "What's troubling you, dear prince? I'll make it all better." Zorra smiled when he grabbed her roughly by the back of her neck and lead her to the couch, yanking her head down into his lap as he sat down and brought his half-erection from his shorts. Zorra immediately began devouring it.

He rested his head against the back of the chair and concentrated on how Zorra's mouth felt around him. He swore softly when Zorra took him deeply in her throat and began purring around him with stimulating vibrations. He closed his eyes and memories appeared in his mind's eye of Bulma on her knees in the shower sucking him while looking up at him with her big blue eyes. Vegeta bit his lips in remembrance and hardened completely as he remembered the way she was looking at his cock in wonder as she tried to take it all the way into her mouth. When Zorra started stroking his shaft in her hand while massaging his balls with her tongue, he thought of Bulma doing it to him and sighed in pleasure. When Zorra went back to sucking him, he grabbed her head and pushed it down as far as it would go and raised his hips from the sofa to thrust himself in and out of her mouth.

He was close, he saw Bulma's mouth moving up and down on him, with her blue eyes beckoning him to cum down her throat and he did. Vegeta groaned and released three spurts of milky seed into her mouth and she consumed all of him and kept going while he trembled. When he opened his eyes and saw green elliptical ones looking up at him, he suddenly felt ashamed—despicable—like he had senselessly committed a detestable grievance. He stuffed himself back into his shorts and turned away from her. "Leave."

Zorra's victorious feeling at being with the prince again disappeared. "What's wrong, baby?" she tried while rubbing his thigh soothingly.

"Leave," he said again, refusing to look at her.

Zorra couldn't hide the hurt in her eyes as she said, "Okay," and went to pull her dress back on. When she reached the door to go, she forced a smile at the dejected looking prince and said, "Come see me anytime, baby. I'll be waiting."

"Go back to your planet, Zorra."

Zorra's fake smile fell. "Have I done something to displease you?"

Vegeta shook his head slightly. "Your planet will be taken care of."

"I don't care about that, I care about you!" she cried. He didn't say anything and her lip started trembling at his lack of response. "It's that human girl, isn't it? The rumors are true, aren't they?"

Vegeta jaw tightened but he kept quiet and still didn't look at her. Not even when she fell to the floor and started sobbing brokenly.

"I don't want to live anymore," Zorra whispered mournfully.

The prince was beside her the next instant yanking her up by her arm from the floor.

"Say it again!" he roared in her face. "If you truly wish to die then say it again!"

Zorra hurriedly shook her head, terrified by the murderous look in his eyes. When he released her she tore out of the room and ran down the hall blinded by tear filled eyes until she collided with a palace guard.

The guard recognized her and tried to push the hysterical woman off him at first, saying, "What the hell, Zorra?"

But Zorra only clung to him harder, drenching his armor with her tears. "I'm in love with him," she whimpered as her shoulders shook with grief. There was no need for the guard to wonder who she was talking about; the whole palace knew. He looked down at her in pity and allowed her to weep until she was spent.

Vegeta went to his bathroom to splash some cold water on his face and didn't bother to envelop his fist in ki before punching his bathroom mirror, nor did he bother to remove the jagged pieces of glass lodged in his knuckles. He felt like he deserved the wounds and he didn't care if they never stopped bleeding, because he felt like Zorra.

He didn't want to live anymore.

 **AN: This update is wayyy past overdue, sorry guys! Fun fact: this chapter has been sitting in my computer 85% completed since the last time I updated over FIVE months ago (-_-) I've been super busy, PLEASE forgive me!**

 **I hope you enjoyed this update! Things got heavy at the end there, huh? But now we know that Toma pushing up on Bulma at the feast wasn't some random act of mischief, he was getting revenge on Vegeta! Oh, em, gee! But we still don't know what Vegeta is planning, or have some of you guessed? Hmm? Well, you'll find out soon! Next chapter: Goku is a coming! And someone else is a coming, too:)**

 **P.S. The poem 'Further' by Dicchio is an original poem by me, so please don't, like, you know, steal it lol. Swiper no swiping and all that jazz:)**


	10. Chapter 10

The next morning, the palace was teeming with gossip over Zorra's dismissal. Everyone knew that Zorra had been the #1 girl in the prince's collection, and no one knew it better than the other women in his harem. Over a dozen of them gathered in the halls, watching with mocking smiles on their faces as Zorra carried the last of her remaining possessions out of her rooms, while servants took her suitcases and other luggage down to the ship bay.

"Not so special now, are you?" one of the women, named Camenna, remarked.

Zorra flipped her hair and kept walking and the women followed behind her, led by Camenna.

"Look at this bitch," Camenna said to the others. "She got dropped like a piece of trash and she's still trying to act like she's better than us."

"I don't have to try," Zorra threw behind her smoothly.

Camenna sped up. "What'd you just say?" she challenged.

"Not repeating myself."

"She's scared," one of the women said, laughing.

"Yup," Camenna agreed. "She won't because she knows I'll smack her."

Zorro spun around defiantly. "No, _bitch,_ I'm not going to repeat myself, because I know those big ass ears heard every word."

Camenna's face turned red in anger, and so did her elephant-like ears that draped down to her shoulders. She took off her shoes and rushed forward with one of the them still in her hand, intent on nailing Zorra in the head with the pointy heel. Zorra dropped her stuff and intercepted her wrist in her hand before she could strike, digging her sharp claws into her skin. Camenna yelled in pain, dropping the heel and tried to cuff her with her other hand but Zorra caught her wrist in her other hand and sunk her claws in it, too. Camenna tried to get her hands free and started kicking wildly at her legs. Zorro wouldn't let go and started kicking back, so Camenna ran them towards the wall and Zorra's back slammed against it and they fell to the floor.

"Get her, Camenna!" her cohorts yelled as the two women struggled against each other on the floor, punching, pulling, scratching, and rolling. Palace guards started gathering around the scene to watch, making no attempt to break up the fight, but they did get on their scouters to spread the word.

Ruti was in the ship bay receiving shipment when several of his cargo handlers started running out of the facility. Even Grean dropped what he was doing and was about to take off until Ruti stopped him, grabbing him by the shoulder.

"Whoa, where's everyone going?"

"Girl fight! Come on!" Grean said excitedly.

Ruti frowned and ran out with him. By the time he and Grean arrived there was a large crowd around the women, who were on their feet now breathing heavily and staring each other down. Zorra swiped tangled strands of black hair out of her face and pulled up her fallen dress strap for support, but it was stretched out from the fighting and slipped back down her arm. Camenna licked the blood at the corner of her lip from a scratch that extended from her mouth to her chin. "What are you waiting for? Let's go!" she hollered at Zorra.

"Go! Go!" the men in the crowd chanted.

"Please let me see some titty," one of the Saiyans prayed aloud.

Zorra charged and tried to grab Camenna's hair but missed when Camenna leaned back to avoid her hand, but Zorra was able to graze her with her nails instead, enough to leave four red stripes on her chest. Camenna growled and went for Zorra's throat and while Zorra was trying to pry her hand from around her neck, the front of her dress slipped down, exposing her breasts. The men practically squealed with glee.

"That's what I'm talking about!"

"Now kiss each other!"

Zorra clawed frantically at Camenna's arms but she only squeezed her throat tighter. "Die bitch!" Camenna screamed. Right when Zorra felt like she was about to pass out, Camenna suddenly wasn't on her anymore and a man stood in front of her. Zorra fell to her knees holding her neck and coughing as she pulled her dress back up to cover herself.

"Let them fight, Ruti!" the others protested.

"That's enough," Ruti told Camenna.

"Mind your business," she sneered.

"Prince Vegeta tasked me with making sure this woman gets home safely—she is my business. Or would you like to take the matter up with him?"

Camenna looked him up and down disdainfully before saying, "Whatever," and stalking off. The other women left too, giving Zorra nasty looks as they did. Just as Ruti was about to ask Zorra if she was alright, some conversation from amongst the group of men caught his ear and he went over to see what they were talking about. Everyone was gathered around one Saiyan, all of them trying to get a peek at what he was holding.

"Let me see, Korn!"

"Hey, send that to me! Jump it to my scouter!"

"Me too!"

Ruti got close enough to see that what Korn was holding was his scouter, and he was showing everyone the pictures he took with it of Zorra when her dress came down. He swiftly grabbed it and destroyed it.

"Hey!" Korn and the others yelled at him.

"What's your problem?" someone complained.

"You'll pay for that, Ruti," Korn threatened.

"Bill me," he said, walking away.

"Come back here! You think you can just walk away without a fight?"

Ruti stopped. "You want to fight? Fine. Later though, I have work to do."

Korn seethed at his dismissive attitude. "Let's make it a rank battle then."

Ruti turned to regard him curiously. "A rank battle? What for?"

"Why not? Loser gets demoted to third class."

"Challenge accepted," he said and continued towards Zorra.

"Honorable Ruti, defender of whores!" Korn shouted at his back.

The other Saiyans cracked up at the jibe. Ruti ignored them and knelt down to help Zorra pick up her things.

"You okay?" he asked.

Zorra nodded, but her hand moved frequently to wipe at her eyes as Korn yelled more insults to her and Ruti for the entertainment of his audience before they eventually dispersed.

"Take every bad thing people say about you to heart, and it'll end up in tatters," Ruti offered gently.

"I'm fine," she said, brushing another stray tear away.

A piece of paper hanging halfway out of a notebook next to him on the floor caught Ruti's attention, and he pulled it out the rest of the way to inspect it. Zorra reached to take it away from him when she noticed what he was looking at, but he held it back from her. It was a drawing of the prince lying in bed with a sheet pulled up to his waist. One of his arms were folded behind his head and he appeared to be sleeping. Ruti was struck by the level of detail and the photographic resemblance to him.

"It's not what you think," she felt compelled to explain. "I didn't-, he, he knew I was drawing it, I didn't…without him knowing," she trailed off.

"You're talented."

Zorra felt vulnerable as he studied the drawing and as the night she drew it came to mind. She had to beg him to agree to lay still long enough for her to complete it. When it was finished, he smiled at her and said he liked it. It made her feel happy, special, even. "I never thought he would fall in love with anyone," she said quietly. "But I hoped that if he ever did, it would be with me." Ruti looked up at her then and Zorra looked away, embarrassed by her confession. "I know. Stupid, right?"

"It's not stupid to hope for things you want."

Zorra eyes met his again, transfixed by the kindness reflecting in them.

Ruti held up the drawing. "This is really good. Do you have more?"

Zorra nodded and opened the notebook for him so he could see the rest.

"This is amazing work," he said as he flipped through it.

"Thank you."

He placed the drawing of the prince inside of the sketchbook and handed it to her, then stood up and extended his hand down to her.

"Let's get you home."

Zorra snorted softly as she took his hand and got up from the floor. "I don't have one."

Ruti bent to collect her bag. "You have no family on your planet?"

"It isn't my planet, it's where the prince found me."

"What will you do?" he asked as they began walking towards the ship bay together.

"After I blow through the money he gave me?" Zorra shrugged lightly and upturned the corner of her mouth sassily, "I guess I'll go back to doing what I do best."

Ruti noted how the sadness in her eyes contrasted with the confidence she attempted to portray with her expression. "Don't do that," he nodded his head at the sketchbook in her arms, "Do that."

Her eyebrows drew down skeptically as she looked at it then back at him. "I can't live off of this."

"Yes you can," he said firmly. "If you really want to, you can."

Zorra stared at him in wonder. He didn't know her, but he sounded as though he had unshakable faith in her. And he was being so kind to her when all the other Saiyans just wanted some free entertainment at her expense, or to laugh at her and call her a whore.

"You're…nice. Are you really a Saiyan?"

Ruti grinned. "'til the death of me."

* * *

Bulma was pacing back in forth in her room after she returned from the mall, in front of a scouter with a blue lens laying on her bed. She decided as soon as she got home, she was going to do it; she was going to call him. But after 20 minutes of standing around her room, twiddling her thumbs, she still hadn't done it. Bulma had no idea what to say. They hadn't spoken in so long and now she had to drop a bombshell on him.

"Oh hello, Prince Vegeta, long time no talk. How have you been? Nothing new with me, just carrying your child," Bulma tried aloud experimentally and sighed. "How am I supposed to do this?" she moaned. She hopped on her bed and stretched across it on her stomach with her feet up behind her and put the scouter over her eye, deciding she was just going to do it. Without thinking about it, and with no speech prepared, she activated it and opened the transmission line of the last communication received from the prince's scouter. She'd seen the Saiyans that arrived on Earth use their scouters to transmit back to Planet Vegeta, so she had no reason to believe it wouldn't reach him.

The scouter attempted to establish a connection for a few seconds and then displayed an error message on the lens: no signal. She tried it a couple more times and kept getting the same message.

"Great, now I'm going to have to call him through the palace."

She didn't want to do that. Using the direct link to his scouter was much easier—and much more private. The thought of having to ask someone else to speak to him and wait for him to come on made her even more nervous. What if when he was informed it was her calling, he refused to speak to her? At least with the scouter she had the element of surprise and he couldn't blow her off.

Bulma raised herself up to get in a sitting position and swung her legs over the edge of the bed and planted her feet on the floor with her palms braced at either side of her on the bed. She imagined herself pushing up from the bed, standing up, marching down to her lab and contacting Saiyan Palace Communications, but her body wouldn't move.

 _No, but seriously, what am I going to say to him?_

She needed a pep talk. Bulma got her cell phone and dialed Yamcha.

 _Maybe I can catch him in time._

"Bulma?"

"Yamcha! I thought you'd be on the plane already." Yamcha had scored a two-year baseball contract overseas and was scheduled to fly out that day.

"Not yet. Called to beg me to stay?"

Bulma rolled her eyes and cut right to the chase. "I'm pregnant."

There was a full five seconds of silence on Yamcha's end before he said, "Like, with a baby?"

"What-, yes! What else!"

"Aw man…so…is it mine?"

Bulma frowned. "No, we didn't…" she trailed off when she remembered—

 _We did._

"Hello? Bulma?"

"Huh?"

"I'm not the father? You think it's that guy?"

"Um," she faltered and fell back onto the bed with her hand over her eyes.

"Hey, I'm about to board, I've gotta go, okay? I'll call you when I can. Oh, and congratulations!" he said before hanging up.

After the call ended Bulma remained prone on the bed with the phone still at her ear wondering—

 _How in the world did I forget I had sex with Yamcha before I left?_

That changed everything. There was no way she could call Vegeta now and tell him she was pregnant without even knowing if he was the father. She and Yamcha didn't use a condom; there was just as good of a chance it was his baby as it was Vegeta's.

 _When did I become this stupid?_

She was a certifiable genius but she definitely didn't feel like one at the moment. How— _how_ could she have forgotten she had sex with Yamcha? Probably because—

 _Well, it did happen pretty quick._

So quick it barely registered in her memory now even after being reminded. Those—maybe—eight seconds with Yamcha were thoroughly eclipsed in her brain by the hours she spent in the prince's bedroom.

 _I need to call my doctor._

Bulma got up to find the number of her OB-GYN so she could schedule an appointment.

* * *

Vegeta stared down at the clear lens scouter in his hands blinking with an incoming transmission. He kept meaning to replace it with a red lens one but he never seemed to feel like doing it. There wasn't much he did feel like doing as of late. The simple act of putting the scouter on and accepting the transmission was tiresome.

"What."

"Rank challenge, sire," Nappa informed him.

"Who," the prince said automatically with the intention of putting it in queue with the hundred other rank challenges waiting for his approval.

"Korn and Ruti."

"What?" he asked, doubly surprised. It was unlike Ruti to participate in a rank battle. He had respectable fighting ability, but unlike most Saiyans, he wasn't disposed to actually fighting. And also— "They're both second class, why are they challenging rank?"

"Uh, I don't know, Prince Vegeta, they're fighting over Zorra or something."

His confusion tripled. But knowing he wasn't going to get a clear answer from Nappa, he just said, "Fine. I'll be there."

The rank battle was being held at the training ground behind the palace. Saiyans were gathered already, waiting on the prince, and they shuddered when he made his arrival.

"He looks like something brought back from death to haunt the living," someone whispered.

His pallid complexion was ghostly in comparison to the tawny skinned warriors that were assembled, and the deep shadows around his eyes made his usual scowl more fearsome. Everyone noticed the prince's physical decline but no one dared say anything to him about it. Neither did they say anything when they happened upon him dozing off at odd times of the day, and they would rather face the wrath of the king than make mention of the fact that an elite managed to land a hit to his face during sparring the other day.

Vegeta stood in front of Ruti and Korn and merely said, "Terms." Fully articulating himself was too much of a chore.

"The loser of the battle will be demoted to third class," Ruti said when Korn put on a confused face.

The prince walked a good distance away from them then turned around to look at them tiredly. The others cleared the area and stood in line with the prince, while Korn and Ruti got into fighting stances. Vegeta gave a half-hearted wave for them to begin.

Korn threw the first punch and Ruti dodged it easily and remained on the defensive as Korn kept attacking. Ruti avoided every hit, moving each time right before Korn's fists or feet could connect with his body. The fight went on like this for several minutes until the spectating Saiyans started getting restless and heckling them.

""Dammit, this is a fight, Ruti! Fight!"

"Too slow, Korn! You can't get even one hit on him!"

"You're gonna lose, Korn!"

Korn was already at the height of frustration over not being able to hit Ruti, the comments from the crowd made it worse and his swings became more vicious. They took to the air and Ruti seemed to become faster, to Korn's chagrin, making him seem even slower and hapless. Every maneuver Korn tried connected with air. He took the fight back to the ground and fumed when Ruti smirked at him.

"Fight me!" Korn barked, and threw all his weight into a wild right punch and Ruti ducked it and phased behind him, tripping his right foot in the process and causing him to stumble forward hard in a comical fashion, almost falling. His face burned when he heard the men on the sidelines laughing at him. He was about to whip around and lunge at Ruti again when the prince's voice rang out over the laughter and commentary.

"This fight is over! Winner, Ruti."

Korn gaped at the prince. "It's not over, Prince Vegeta, I can beat him!" he insisted.

"You can't lay a hand on him. You're done."

"But, Prince Vegeta-"

"You're. _Done_ ," he repeated himself, extremely annoyed that he was having to.

Korn shut his mouth and stared at the ground bitterly.

With a tilt of his head, Vegeta motioned to Ruti as he walked away from the scene.

"Enjoy third-class-hood, Korn. You've earned it," Ruti quipped before following after the prince.

"What was this about?" he asked when Ruti fell in step beside him.

Ruti told him of the altercation that occurred between Zorra and Camenna, how Korn had made it his business to humiliate Zorra, and how he made it his business to humiliate Korn. "Guys like him should never be allowed to succeed at anything, least of all bullying women," he finished. The prince said nothing and gave no reaction to the story. After a few moments of walking in silence, Ruti said, "Can I ask you a question, Prince Vegeta?"

Vegeta looked at him in acknowledgment.

"Why did you only send Zorra away?"

The Prince returned his eyes forward. He wanted to confide in Ruti that even though he'd used Zorra's body countless times for his pleasure, knowing full well how much she cared for him, last night was the first time he felt guilty about it. Last night, he hated himself for it. Last night, he hated Zorra for not being Bulma. And he hated himself for kissing Okra. At the same time, he hated himself for being unable to take things further with her. In the past, he absolutely would have made Okra's day and bent her over that lab table while Toma was forced to watch. He didn't know who he was anymore, he felt lost. He no longer knew joy…or sleep. Vegeta wanted to tell Ruti all these things but the words were obstructed in his chest. Instead, he said:

"You think I should send them all away."

"No," Ruti, said quickly. "I mean, it's not my decision to make."

Vegeta stopped and faced him. "Do you think I should get rid of them or don't you?" he snapped.

Ruti looked at him uncertainly. His expression was harsh and demanding but his eyes were tinged with, what looked like to Ruti, desperation. They gave him a strong impression that the prince—

 _He wants me to tell him what to do._

"Yes, Prince Vegeta," he answered cautiously. "I think you should."

"Take care of it," the prince said, then turned on his heel and left him. Over the next four days, Ruti found himself very busy in the ship bay with scheduling transport for 73 beauties back to their home planets.

* * *

On the day Goku's ship was due to arrive, the king and prince went to meet the ship as it was close to making landfall. They walked the palace halls in silence, followed by Zorn, Nappa, and the elite guard as they made their way outside to the landing area. King Vegeta observed the prince from out the corner of his eye. He looked like ill formed shit. And the boy's sullenness was pissing him off to the point of wanting to bash both his eye sockets in. This was hardly his son. He was losing him and there was nothing he could do about it. Just as he could do nothing about Keef.

"King Vegeta," Zorn interrupted his quiet distress. "Communications says there is another ship coming in right behind Kakarot's, requesting permission to land."

"Who sent the request?"

"A woman. She says her name is Brief."

The prince's neck almost snapped from the force of it jerking around to stare at Zorn in shock.


	11. Chapter 11

"The channel signature of Kakarott's ship is identical to the ship Dr. Brief originally came in. She must have upgraded it to travel twice as fast. Impressive."

The prince barely registered Zorn's comment as they waited for Goku's ship to finish landing. His tail was strangling his waist and his arms were crossed abnormally tight over his chest as if he were in danger of coming apart and needed to literally hold himself together. Above, another ship could be seen descending in the atmosphere. _Her_ ship. The hatch of Goku's ship opened and the teenaged Saiyan came in view, striding down the ramp in his orange gi, looking carefree with his arms laced behind his head.

"Hi, I'm Goku," he said good-naturedly to them when he approached.

The gathered warriors snickered. King Vegeta grimaced. "Let's save the introductions until your friend arrives," he said curtly.

"My friend?" Goku turned around to see where the king was looking.

"Bulma Brief," Zorn informed him.

"No kidding? Bulma's here?" Goku said in surprise. "She didn't tell me she was coming." He squinted at the ship. "Hm. That doesn't look like a Capsule Corp. ship, though."

Vegeta cut his eyes at him then focused back on the ship. It was red and white with a black symbol on the front of it. Recognition dawned on the group when it came closer into view.

"That's a Space Patrol ship. What's Space Patrol want with us?" someone asked.

King Vegeta glanced at Zorn, who nodded and got on his scouter to confer with Palace Communications. "That's the ship that sent the landing request, sire," he confirmed.

 _What the hell is going on?_ the prince wondered. He had many questions that he wasn't willing to voice aloud. They would just have to wait until the ship landed and whoever was in it got out of it. His instincts told him it wasn't her, but a large piece of him was still holding onto the possibility that it was. That possibility was extinguished when he saw that it was a space patrolman piloting the single passenger ship. The clear domed hatch on the top of the craft opened when he landed and, unexpectedly, so did another hatch below it. A woman hopped out of it and ran full speed toward them. She skidded to a stop when she reached them and bowed quickly. "Please, I need your help! You've got to come quick!"

Vegeta just stared at her, stunned. His instincts were correct: it wasn't her _. . ._ but she greatly resembled her. The woman in front of him could almost pass for Bulma—if Bulma had blonde hair and dark brown eyes.

King Vegeta stepped forward. "Who are you?" he demanded.

The mystery woman straightened up and a self-confident smile Vegeta felt he had seen before alighted on her face before she pointed her thumb at her chest and announced, "Brief, Tights Brief."

"Hey, I knew I knew you from somewhere!" Goku exclaimed.

"And you are?" Tights raised an eyebrow.

"Goku. I've seen your picture at Capsule Corp. Bulma's a good friend of mine."

Tights gasped. "You know my little sister?" She took his hand and shook it vigorously. "Wow, that's great! Any friend of Bulma is a friend of mine! Gosh, how is she? It's been so long since—"

"What is your business here, Tights Brief?" the king interrupted loudly.

"Oh, right! Are you King Vegeta?"

"I am."

"Please," she said bowing again, "I came here to ask for your help on behalf of the Jumins. They're in serious trouble and they keep saying the Saiyans are going to come help them, but you guys never showed up! What's up with that?"

The king glared at her while the prince smirked in amusement. It seemed gumption was a Brief family trait. His father did not find it as entertaining.

"Listen, girl," he said in a hard voice, "I've already told them that I will not be sending any assistance."

"But, you have to! They need help!"

"And why do I _have_ to?"

"Because! They are the nicest people _ever,_ " Tights said, looking very serious as she nodded her head as if to confirm her own words.

King Vegeta resisted the urge to roll his eyes and the prince held back a laugh but everyone else, with the exception of Zorn, was cracking up.

"Because they're _nice?_ Did she say _nice_?" Aspargon said, howling with laughter and slapping Squaz's shoulder.

The king addressed the patrolman who'd reluctantly followed after Tights. "And you? Is that also why you came?"

"Oh no, I'm just her ride," he said, shaking his head.

"Jaco!" Tights hissed and elbowed him in the ribs.

"Then take her and go. You're wasting my time."

"Alright King Vegeta, you leave me no choice," Tights told him with a look of determination and dropped to the ground, landing Indian style. "I'm not leaving this spot until you agree to help them."

Even the usually straight faced Zorn couldn't help laughing at her then. "Is she serious?" the elites asked each other.

"This chick is even crazier than her sister," one of them noted to the agreement of the majority. As for the prince, he was quietly spellbound by her. Her obstinacy, fire, and boldness were comfortingly familiar. Her presence had a calming effect on him. It gave him the closest thing he'd felt to contentment in a long time.

Goku scratched his head frowning. "It must be really bad if you're willing to go that far. Does it have to be the king? I'd be happy to help."

She shook her head. "It has to be him. Their planet needs his protection."

Jaco sighed. "Well, it's been fun, Tights. Take care of yourself." He started walking back to his ship.

Tights looked back at him in panic. "Where are you going? Get back here, Jaco!" Jaco flashed her the peace sign and kept walking. Tights growled at him and faced King Vegeta again, arms crossed and resolute.

"Get her the hell out of here, Nappa," the king ordered.

"With pleasure, King Vegeta," Nappa said with a grin and stalked over to Tights.

Goku's eyes widened slightly in concern and he slipped into a semi fighting stance so he could quickly intervene if he tried to hurt her.

"I'm not going anywhere," Tights said defiantly though she gulped in fear. He was _huge._

"Let's go, princess." Nappa hauled her up and carried her under his arm like a piece of luggage to Jaco's ship.

"Put me down you bald headed animal!" Tights screamed and kicked, and tried to wriggle out of his immovable hold while he taunted her.

For the first time in weeks, the prince was feeling better. But the closer the shrieking blonde woman, who looked and acted so much like Bulma, got to the ship that would take her away, the less better he felt.

"Father . . . I will go assist the Jumins."

The king's head turned slowly to face his son with knit brows and eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Excuse me?"

"I'll take care of it."

"They are not joining the empire."

"I'll find another solution."

"Vegeta—"

"It will be my personal responsibility and mine alone."

The king looked toward Nappa, who was having a harder time than he should have putting Tights in the Space Patrol ship as she was still mouthing off and calling him all sorts of colorful names. She was a ridiculous female—just like her scientist sister. If she wasn't, he had no doubt he would not be having this conversation with his son.

"Nappa!"

Tights was holding onto the outer edge of the entryway and her sneaker was pushing against the side of Nappa's head, while his hands were on her shoulders trying to push her inside the ship.

"I've almost got her, King Vegeta!" Nappa assured him.

"Let her go!"

Both Tights and Nappa froze and exchanged wary glances before awkwardly untangling their limbs. Tights picked up her hat that had fallen during the struggle and dusted it off before putting it on and going to where the king and prince were standing.

"Sooo, does this mean you've changed your mind?" she asked the king hopefully with her hands pressed together in a pleading gesture.

"So it seems," he said dryly.

"Yes!" she cheered in celebration with a fist pump. "Thank you so much!"

The king scoffed. "Don't thank me, thank him." He angled his head toward his son.

Tights smiled at Vegeta brightly and extended her hand. "Thank you. Tights Brief."

Vegeta looked down at her hand stretched between them in the same way Bulma had done when they first met. He looked back up at her face and suddenly she had blue hair, bluer eyes, and lips painted an alluring shade of red. He quickly blinked the illusion away and reached to shake her hand. "Prince Vegeta."

"I hope you're strong, Prince Vegeta. There's a big ugly monster terrorizing the Jumins. They've been forced to live underground now," she said sadly.

Goku popped up next to them excitedly. "Oooo, a monster? Can I come?"

"No, you can't come. It's not a damn field trip, Kakarott," the prince said sharply in annoyance.

"Aw come on," Goku pouted. "He might be really strong, I wanna fight him, too."

Vegeta looked the younger Saiyan up and down disdainfully and remembered his indignation over his father suggesting the third class could ever compete with him. "You'd just better worry about your fight with me after I take care of this monster. On second thought, you can come along. I don't want anyone else wiping the floor with you while I'm gone. I've got first dibs."

The prince's words only got Goku even more pumped. "Oh yeah, that's right. I hear you're pretty strong."

"Oh, and where'd you hear that? They weren't wrong," he said with a cocky smirk.

"Bulma."

"You know Bulma, too?" Tights asked Vegeta.

His smirk faltered and he immediately changed the subject. "Let's go Kakarott. We're taking my ship," he said and walked away. At the king's command, the elite guard dispersed, talking quietly amongst themselves about their prince and the newcomer. King Vegeta and Zorn stood where they were, observing the prince with impassive expressions.

"I'm coming, too," Tights said, catching up to him and Goku.

"Aren't you afraid of the big bad monster?" the prince said mockingly without turning around.

"I want to be there when that monster gets taken down. The Jumins deserve to live in peace."

Vegeta grunted indifferently and got on his scouter to tell Ruti to ready his ship, and to check the coordinates of Planet Jumin.

"Got room for one more?" Jaco asked, falling in line with them.

"Traitor," Tights threw at him accusingly.

"Did you honestly think I would leave you here? I was only trying to get you to stop embarrassing yourself and get in the ship."

"You already had the takeoff sequence started!"

Jaco shrugged. "Had to make it look convincing."

"How'd you find out about that monster?" Goku asked Tights. "Have you seen him? Does he look tough?"

Tights nodded and shivered at the memory of it. "Yeah, he looks tough alright. Me and Jaco had engine trouble and ended up stranded on Jumin. They saved us from the monster and fixed up the engine for us so we could get away."

"Wow, how'd they save you from the monster? Are they fighters?"

"No." Tights' face fell and she looked down at her shoes guiltily. "They distracted it with the last bit of food they had. They can't get food above ground because of the monster and not much grows underground. They're starving."

Goku looked visibly upset before declaring, "They'll be free of that monster soon, we'll definitely get him."

Vegeta stopped perusing the data on his scouter long enough to scowl at him for his usage of "we'll" then went back to what he was reading.

"Yeah!" Tights agreed. "Hey," she said suddenly, "if you're such good friends with Bulma, how come she never mentioned you to me before?"

"I dunno. That's just Bulma, I guess. She's never mentioned you to me before either."

Tights grinned. "Touché. How's she been?"

"Last time I saw her she was puking her guts out. Got a little on me." Goku chuckled.

"What? Is she sick?"

Vegeta's ears pricked up at the mention of Bulma possibly being ill and he listened more closely to the conversation happening behind him.

"She was fine right after. I wouldn't worry about it."

"Yeah, sure," Tights said, but she couldn't help but be a little worried—Bulma never got sick—but she figured that Goku was right in that it was probably nothing to worry about. Still, it inspired her to plan a visit back home soon. It was time. Hair raising intergalactic adventures were a hoot, but she missed her family. "Oh," she said, remembering something. "Is she still in love with that bandit boy?"

The prince's spine stiffened. _In love?_

"Huh? Oh, you mean Yamcha?"

His footsteps slowed. _What the hell is a 'Yamcha'?_

"Yeah, that guy."

"Well, I guess so, but they did break up last week," Goku said, rubbing his chin in thought. "But they always break up and get back together. Been doing it for years . . . I don't get it."

 _Years?_ Vegeta's steps became even slower.

Tights giggled at his cluelessness. "Those two'll probably end up getting married someday. They just can't leave each other alone."

Goku and Tights didn't realize the prince had stopped walking until Tights' face collided with the back of his head, which may as well have been a block of cement. She rubbed her throbbing nose gingerly. "Hey, you wanna give a warning the next time you do that?" she complained.

Vegeta didn't hear her, nor was he really there. His mind had transported him back in time to six weeks ago, when he'd first met Bulma. The chemistry had been undeniable. The passion between them, scorching. It consumed them in its flames and they were burned alive by pleasure, the power of which screamed it could not be replicated with anyone else. He could try with a thousand other women and he knew he wouldn't feel that again. Only with her he could. He'd thought it was a mutual truth and that she was as much a hopeless prisoner to it as he was. When she left, he thought it was out of stubbornness that she stayed away. After he set his pride aside and called her ship, though she didn't answer, he thought she would eventually return his call. But there were never any messages for him from her in communications.

When she left, his soul told him it wasn't for good. Though he knew it was his sickness that kept him hoping she would come back to him, he'd been a slave to that hope. And it told him that for every thought he had about her that distracted him during the day and kept him awake at night, there was a matching thought of him that plagued her existence just as relentlessly. And the dreams he dreamed about her, she was having the same ones about him. He told himself that her bed stayed empty, because his bed stayed empty. He was so sure she must have been suffering as he was suffering. His pain and longing felt too devastating to be one sided. In his mind, it'd kept him connected to her, an idea that they shared a common thread of angst that defied time and space and spanned galaxies.

When she left, he never considered it was to return to someone else. All the time she spent running from him, it never took hold in his mind that she wasn't running away from him, but to the arms of another. Someone she had been desperate to get back to. He didn't know that he was alone in his tormenting desire. He didn't know he'd become one of the poor fools he'd always derided, doomed to harbor unrequited feelings for someone they would never have. The prince had suffered countless wounds in his 20 years; broken bones, torn ligaments, punctured organs, gaping holes in his body . . . None of those were more painful than the injury he had just been given:

A broken heart.

 **AN: Yeah, sooo, I've been so busy I've hardly had time to even think about this story let alone write it. I work full-time (from home, luckily), plus I'm trying to start a business, I have other writing projects I'm working on, and I'm trying to save up to move across the country. I've got a lot on my plate, but as I said before, will absolutely finish this story. Just won't be updating as quickly as you'd like. Sorry.**

 **About the story, I know ya'll are disappointed it wasn't Bulma. And you're probably even more disappointed by what happened at the end there. I planned to have Tights in this story long before I found out she was going to be in Dragon Ball Super. I found out she existed one day and decided I had to have her in the story. I have not been watching Super because I cannot tolerate the Japanese version of Dragon Ball and have been waiting for the English dub (which is finally premiering Jan. 7** **th** **, yay!) I know that sounds bad but by and large I prefer to watch anime in Japanese . . . just not Dragon Ball. Anyway, I said that to say that, because I have not been watching it, Tights might seem OOC? I'm not sure. If the characterization seems off, I apologize. I usually try to be diligent about those things but I just can't do Dragon Ball in Japanese so I took the information I'd read about her before and went from there.**

 **Ever been estranged from someone you miss, but felt better when you were around someone that was close to them, whether it was their best friend, sibling, or parents? That's what Vegeta's experiencing. I've been there before, but for those of you that haven't, don't take it to mean he's going to fall for Tights now lol. No, no. Also, it's the Moon Rapture that's making Vegeta more emotional (and conscientious) that's not just the way I'm writing him. Well, this author's note has gone on long enough, just wanted to clear up a couple of things. Let me know what you think of the chapter. Until next time, and have a Merry Christmas!**


	12. Chapter 12

Bulma sighed as she left Yamcha yet another voicemail and threw her phone on the bed. She kicked off her conservative pumps, yanked off the jacket to her skirt suit, ripped open her buttoned up blouse, and proceeded to have a full blown temper tantrum while trying to unhook her bra. Eventually she gave up and fell down face forward onto her bed and screamed into her pillow. It had been a stressful workday; she didn't know if everyone in her employ was suddenly becoming incompetent or if it was just her becoming a raging bitch due to her pregnancy hormones. Probably the latter, she conceded. Her mood was only worsened by the fact that she wasn't having any success in getting back in touch with Yamcha since they last talked before he boarded his flight a few days ago. She'd been trying to reach him to find out the earliest he was coming back or if he could send her a DNA sample for a paternity test. Each time her call got sent to voicemail, the more anxious and emotional she became and the more she berated herself for not thinking to ask him when she had the chance, or for not somehow having the foresight to keep a sample of his DNA on hand for times like these!

She still had to wait several weeks before she could do the paternity test anyway, and her first prenatal appointment wasn't until another two weeks, since she was told she had to be at least 8 weeks along to have it. Bulma wondered if the baby was a boy or a girl. She wondered if the baby was human or half-Saiyan. She still couldn't believe she might possibly be pregnant from a one night stand with an alien. It was a plot worthy of a freaky sci fi novel, perhaps one like her sister might write. She lifted her face from the pillow and rolled over onto her back as she thought about her sister and wondered what she was doing and where the heck she was. She hadn't heard from Tights in a while, almost a year. She would freak when she told her that she'd actually traveled to space and met aliens. That would be a dream come true for the aspiring science fiction author. Blue eyebrows furrowed as another thought came to mind:

 _Wait . . . Vegeta is an alien. Is it even possible for me to be pregnant by an alien?_

She hadn't previously considered that humans and Saiyans might not be genetically compatible even though they were _definitely_ physically compatible. It was a real possibility they weren't. Bulma wondered if the Saiyans had ever produced children with other races? Perhaps the answer to that question would shed some much needed light on her situation. But how could she find out? She couldn't just call up to the planet and ask, not without making herself look suspicious anyway. Then she remembered—

 _Yes, I can!_

Goku. He should have arrived by now and she could get him to ask the Saiyans if there were any half-Saiyans running around. If they were compatible with other races, they might also be compatible with humans. It was a longshot—hardly a solid method of determining the paternity of the child she was carrying—but it was better than waiting around knowing nothing and tearing apart her very expensive designer clothes in frustration. She was hungry for some peace of mind or at least a morsel of information to abate her curiosity. Before he left, Bulma built handheld communicators for herself and Goku so he could contact her directly if something came up or he landed into some trouble. She didn't think he would need it, but after Master Roshi spooked everyone by suggesting the Saiyans might have some diabolical plans in store for him, she decided it couldn't hurt.

She got up to retrieve hers from her dresser and started to use the voice call feature to connect to his device, but became paranoid at the thought of their conversation being overheard and decided to send a text message instead:

 **Hey Goku! Do me a favor and ask around to see if any**

 **half-Saiyans exist, but don't say I'm the one asking.** **Thanks!**

* * *

The prince's heart pounded in his chest harder than usual as he walked ahead of the trio, but he doggedly ignored it. He refused to acknowledge the change in his state the moment he learned that the whole time he'd been pathetically withering away under his cursed desire for the woman, she had been warming another man's bed, while his own stayed empty night after night because of her. His limbs moved forward mechanically as he forced a mantra of indifference to resound in his mind and drown out all his other lesser thoughts scrambling for dominance: He couldn't care less about the woman. She meant nothing to him. It made no difference to him that she was galaxies away with some pathetic human male. He. Did. Not. Care. These denials did nothing to quiet his soul's distress. He was grateful for the continuous prattling going on behind him, it was the only thing anchoring him to reality. Without the distraction, he might have lost his head if he focused on what was going on inside it, so he focused on his increasing annoyance with Goku's childlike ignorance instead. It didn't take long for the prince to decide that he did not like him. He didn't know that anyone, much less a Saiyan, could be so dimwitted. And the fool was oblivious that he was being laughed at, not with.

Tights and Jaco were startled when Goku jumped in the air suddenly. Vegeta didn't flinch at the spontaneous movement but stopped to glare at him for acting so ridiculously and kept walking, leaving them behind. He didn't even want to know. Goku rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly and laughed when he realized the strong vibration he felt on his hip was the communicator Bulma gave him going off. He'd tucked it in his waistband and forgotten about it.

"What gives?" Tights asked him.

Goku fished out the device and said, "Must be a message from Bulma."

Tights' eyes lit up. "Bulma?"

"Wanna talk to her?"

"No," she said, raising her hand in a halting motion, then smiling mischievously. "I'm gonna surprise her." She turned to Jaco. "We're taking a trip to Earth after this. You'll love Bulma and my folks."

"Silly me, I thought I was the captain of my ship," Jaco muttered under his breath.

Goku read Bulma's message and figured he'd just ask Vegeta what she wanted to know since he was right there. He jogged on ahead to catch up with him.

"Hey Vegeta—"

The prince grabbed the younger Saiyan by the front of his shirt and yanked him down to his eye level. "It's _Prince_ Vegeta, third class." Only his father and Nappa could get away with not addressing him properly. And Nappa only did it occasionally out of habit from guarding him as a child.

Goku put his hands up in supplication and chuckled when the prince released him. "Got it, won't happen again. Say, Prince Vegeta, are there any, uh," he paused at the unfamiliar term, "half-Saiyans?"

"Why would you want to know that?"

"Someone-, I mean, I was just curious."

The Prince narrowed his eyes at him suspiciously but decided he was too much of an idiot to have asked the question for any meaningful reason.

"No," he said and resumed walking.

* * *

Bulma quickly opened the message from Goku when her communicator vibrated:

 **No**

She frowned and sent back another message:

 **Has there ever been any?**

* * *

Goku read the message and asked Vegeta, "Has there ever been any?"

"Saiyans are not genetically compatible with any other race. In the 4000 years Saiyans have existed, there has never been a Saiyan hybrid," the prince replied in a dismissive tone without regarding him.

"Not even humans?" Tights asked, intrigued by their conversation she could hear as she and Jaco caught up to them. "We look so much alike, minus the tail."

Vegeta shrugged. He seriously doubted it. The Tuffles were also physically similar to Saiyans and they weren't able to reproduce with them. Before the war, it had been tried. He had no reason to believe the story would be different with humans. "I don't know, ask Kakarot. He's lived amongst your race all his life, I'm sure he's been with enough human females to know," he said sardonically.

Goku scratched his temple in thought, unsure of how him being around girls was relevant to the conversation, or what a Saiyan hybrid even was for that matter. "I don't know either, but I've sure been with Bulma a lot," he granted.

The prince stopped in his tracks, unable to keep from gawking at the younger Saiyan in shock.

Tights burst out laughing at both Goku's statement and the prince's unintentionally comic reaction. "There's no way he means it like that," she insisted while holding her ribs, gasping for air.

"Like what?" Goku asked.

"See?" Tights exclaimed.

"You idiot!" Vegeta growled.

He definitely didn't like him.

* * *

Ruti's men were loading the last of some crates into the prince's ship when he arrived at the ship bay.

"Prince Vegeta," Ruti greeted him and bowed. "Everything is . . ." he trailed off when he saw the others coming up behind the prince.

"Wow," Tights said in awe as she looked around the massive facility. The place was full of ships of all sizes and colors being loaded and unloaded, and bustling with people of all different races. She could see Jaco's and Goku's ships being brought in and docked.

"Who is that?" Ruti breathed to no one as the prince had already left him.

"This place is amazing!" Tights declared as she came up to Ruti. "Tights Brief," she introduced herself and extended her hand to him. Ruti looked down at it, unsure of how he was supposed to interact with it. Tights smiled and took his right hand and placed it in hers. "Like this," she said and shook it, then followed after her companions who were already entering the ship. Ruti stood there gazing at his hand after she was gone, still feeling the warm imprint of her skin on his.

* * *

 **Nope**

Bulma couldn't explain the sinking feeling in her stomach after reading Goku's reply. So, there had _never_ been a Saiyan hybrid before? It seemed pretty unlikely now that the baby she was carrying was Vegeta's. She should have been happy about the news, after all, it would be better for everyone involved if Yamcha was the father, she reasoned. She knew Yamcha cared about her and would be there for her and the baby, he was supportive, and would be a loving father. Vegeta being the father would only add myriad complications—such as trying to establish interplanetary custody for their kid, for one, because they wouldn't be living together on one planet as a family. That would never happen. Her brain knew that but her heart leaped with hope at the idea. She was determined to override that hope with the hope that what Goku told her meant she was having Yamcha's baby. With Yamcha, there would be no pain of raising a child on her own by a man who didn't care for her. With Yamcha, things would be . . . easy.

* * *

Planet Jumin was a three hour journey from Planet Vegeta. Vegeta set the course and after they were elevated to the black expanse of space, he took to leaning up against the window on the side of the ship while the others sat on the floor in a circle playing a card game Tights pulled out of her backpack.

 _I don't care about that woman._

The phrase kept repeating in his head as stared at the stars that seemed to remain at a static distance even though the ship was speeding towards them. He allowed nothing else to enter his mind, only those words, and he was determined to keep up his mental recitation until his soul got on board and stopped blanketing him with an invisible cloak of mourning, and the dull but persistent pain on the left side of his chest went away. Before, he thought he preferred the pain because it still allowed him to feel something. He feared he'd lose himself altogether if he just felt empty all the time. But now he found he would rather endure that feeling of nothingness. It couldn't hurt him. With the nothingness, even though he felt numb and hopelessly empty like he was wandering through existence listlessly, he was still intact. The pain he welcomed before had now ascended to an upgraded level of pain that was eating him alive with no indication of stopping until there was nothing left of him. It felt as if he might actually die from it.

He glanced at the others playing cards when he heard Tights' voice ring out loudly above them. She even sounded like _her._ Tights' form blurred into the background as his gaze settled on her unrelentingly. Her laughter faded away and everything became shapeless and without color as he felt himself floating in a zone of reminiscence.

Jaco cleared his throat pointedly and muttered to Tights, "He's staring at you."

"Huh?" Tights looked up and noticed the prince looking at her and she quickly looked away in surprise. His eyes remained fixed on her when she discretely ventured her gaze at him again to see if he was still looking. Tights tilted her head, eyebrows knitted as she realized he wasn't really looking at her at all. His eyes were unfocused, staring unseeingly. It was as if he were somewhere else, some far off place.

"Annnnd he has yet to look away," Jaco observed. "Creee-py."

Vegeta berated himself inwardly when he broke free of his trance and became aware that he'd been inadvertently staring at Tights for however long, and immediately turned his attention back to the window. But Tights continued to regard him thoughtfully.

"Guess I win again," Goku announced, throwing out a card.

Tights blinked in surprise when she looked down at the smattering of cards on the floor and saw that she was beaten. "You're pretty good at this," she said to Goku. That was the fourth game he won in a row.

Goku stood up and yawned. "That's it for me, I feel a good nap coming on. Wake me up when we get there."

* * *

When the ship landed on Jumin an hour later, the prince didn't bother checking the atmospheric conditions on the planet before exiting the ship. Tights and the space patrolman had already been on it, so he knew it would pose no danger to them and certainly not to him; there weren't many atmospheres that could pose serious harm to Saiyans. Vegeta leapt out of the ship, cracking his neck from side to side when his feet touched the ground. He was done feeling sorry for himself and licking his wounds. The prince was fired up and ready to take his frustration out on the infamous monster he'd heard so much about. He hoped the monster would give him a good fight. The first thing he noticed as he surveyed his surroundings was—

"What a filthy planet."

The desolate surface was heaped with garbage, accompanied by a putrid and chemical stench that visibly polluted the air.

"Where is everyone?" Goku asked, coming to stand next to him with Tights and Jaco.

"They're underground," she reminded him as her eyes skimmed around nervously. It was eerily quiet and the monster was nowhere to be seen. But it was somewhere.

Goku closed his eyes and concentrated on stretching out his senses, blocking out the offensive odor of the planet. "The highest power level is about 2 miles that way," he said, pointing northwest. "I bet that's our monster."

Vegeta glanced at the younger Saiyan and pressed a button on his scouter. There were several low power levels in groups below the surface which he deduced were the natives and, sure enough, 2 miles Northwest of them was a power level much higher than the Jumins, but still insignificant compared to his own. He expelled a breath through his nostrils in irritation. He would not find a challenge to provide a decent outlet for his anger here. But, learning that Kakarot could sense power levels without a scouter was useful information. Vegeta shot off in the air towards the monster's location.

"Hey, wait!" Goku shouted and flew after him.

Tights turned to Jaco. "What are you waiting for? Let's go!"

Jaco scoffed and crossed his arms. "I think I'll wait right here." He was getting sick of the human girl ordering him around. Somehow, he'd been stuck with her ever since he crash landed on her planet about a year ago.

"Come on," Tights urged. "We're gonna miss everything! Fire up those rockets!" she said, referring to the rockets in his boots.

"That's only for emergencies," he informed haughtily.

Tights glared at him for a moment, but then her face relaxed into a sly grin as she said, "Oh, I get it. Too scared to face the monster again after you got your butt handed to you last time?"

Jaco cut his eyes at her. He was an elite member of the Galactic Space Patrol, so he should've been able to take care of that thing himself. That fact that it had gotten the best of him and he was forced to retreat was a sore spot for him. But though he failed, he certainly wasn't afraid! He wasn't about to let her accusation go undebunked, even if it was just a juvenile manipulation tactic.

"Hang on," he said, hardly giving Tights enough time to grab onto him before he lifted off after the two Saiyans.

When Jaco and Tights touched down to where Goku and Vegeta were, the two were engaged in an argument in front of the opening of a massive cave.

"Out of my way, Kakarot, I'm not playing your childish game!"

"Aww, come on Vegeta—"

"For the last time, it's _Prince_ Vegeta, you fool!"

"Gee, I'm sorry, I keep forgetting," Goku said apologetically with a cheerful smile. "But I just thought, since it turns out he's not that strong, we could do this to make it at least a little fun. But I understand if you don't want to risk losing."

The prince's present scowl deepened at the tailless buffoon thinking he could best him in anything, even some silly game. But perhaps it would be an interesting preliminary to the pitifully short battle he was about to have with the weak creature lurking inside the cave.

"Tell me the damn rules," he demanded.

"Okay, it's easy. We call this game rock, paper, scissors on Earth." Goku explained the rules of the game to the prince. "If we both throw out the same thing, we keep going until someone wins, got it?" he finished.

"Child's play," Vegeta scoffed. "Let's get on with it."

The two Saiyans faced off in front of each other and chanted, "Rock, paper, scissors, ha!" in unison, both throwing out rock at the end.

"Rock, paper, scissors, ha!" they tried again, both throwing out scissors.

"What are they doing?" Jaco asked slowly in confusion.

"A sacred Earth ritual," Tights said cheekily, amused by the sight.

"Rock, paper, scissors, ha!" they repeated, and this time Goku threw out paper while the prince threw out scissors.

"You win," Goku conceded, not particularly disappointed.

"Of course I win," the prince shot back and walked into the cave.

Goku laced his hands together behind his head and walked in after him, or was about to until Tights grabbed onto his arm.

"You're going," her eyes cast a dubious look at the dark and foreboding looking cave entrance, "in there?" she squeaked.

"Yeah. Aren't you?" Goku asked innocently.

Tights backed up, shaking her head slowly. She had come to see the monster get its comeuppance after putting the poor Jumins through hell, nobody said anything about going inside a creepy cave. She backed right into Jaco who placed his hands on her shoulders and guided her forward.

"Cave's this way," the space patrolman sing-songed smugly.

"I'm not going in there!" Tights said in horror as she tried to dig her heels in ground in a futile attempt to stop her progression.

* * *

Goku walked behind Vegeta with a small ball of ki in his hand to supply some light in the dim cave. Once they got deeper inside, they noticed pockets of natural light shining in from above them. Goku extinguished the energy in his palm and got a better look around now that there was more light. He jerked violently away from the wall when he noticed what was sticking out of it.

"N-, needle!" Goku shrieked in panic and bumped into the prince.

"Get off of me!" the prince shouted, shoving him away. "What the hell?"

Goku hid safely behind the prince and pointed to the large needle-like object protruding from the dank wall. The point of it was lodged firmly in the rock and the end of it was coated in a clear substance, greatly resembling a hair follicle. Vegeta yanked it out of the wall to inspect it. It was a solid metal and did not bend easily, it truly looked exactly like a needle. He briefly wondered if it was related to the monster they were after before tossing it behind him carelessly.

"Hardly anything to scream like a little girl over."

"Watch it, Vegeta!" Goku yelped as he quickly jumped out of the needle's trajectory, the point of which got too close to his skin for comfort. He had no idea they made needles that big, he didn't even want to know what kind of sick person would do such a thing.

"Pathetic," the prince said, walking on and not bothering to correct him again on using his royal title. He was obviously too mentally deficient to remember such a simple thing, probably a result of his head injury. Maybe when they fought he'd be able to knock some of the sense he lost back into him or maybe he'd just kill him for being such an imbecile. He hadn't decided yet. Again, he thought back to his father's assertion that Kakarot was someone to watch out for and got even more annoyed. What made it worse was that his father's words had had some effect on him and he actually entertained the possibility the maybe Kakarott could offer him a real challenge. But Vegeta considered it null seeing as though there was no way a so-called warrior who was afraid of needles— _needles—_ could ever go toe to toe with him. But at least his father would be forced to eat his words for a change and admit that he didn't know as much as he thought he did. It was rare that the prince got to one-up the king and he was looking forward to finally having something to hold over his head.

"Hey Vegeta, look at this!"

The prince turned to bark at Goku for shoving whatever he was holding so close to his face and upon seeing it a cold tingle raced down his spine and he flinched away from it immediately.

"KAKAROT!" the prince roared.

Goku blinked innocently and looked down at the rock in his hand that was covered with pulsating rainbow colored worms that glowed brilliantly.

"What's wrong? I thought they were cool looking. They look like candy worms," Goku said in an almost wistful tone, wishing they really were candy. He was hungry. He looked back up at the prince who was now holding a ball of energy in his hand and glaring murder at him. "Uh, Vegeta?" he ventured.

* * *

Tights was gripping Jaco's arm tightly as they walked through the dark cave.

"Will you let go?" he snapped. His satisfaction of paying Tights back for her insult had worn off around the same time the blood flow in his arm was cut off by her death grip on it.

"Deal with it! You shouldn't have dragged me in here!"

Jaco rolled his eyes and Tights kept hold of him stubbornly, loosening her grip just slightly when she saw some light streaming into the cave. She turned her flashlight off and put it back in her backpack. Now that she could see better, she noticed that it was just an ordinary cave. Nothing special about it except for—

"What's this?" Tights said as she bent down to pick up something of interest on the rocky floor.

Jaco stopped to see what she had found and their eyes met in recognition as she held the large needle-like object up to the light.

"Think we should've warned 'em about this?" she asked, feeling guilty.

"Something's coming!" Jaco shouted suddenly as his ears picked up the sound of something incoming fast. He dove to push her out of the way as it came hurtling towards them at a dangerous speed. They both rolled on the floor and into the wall as it crashed into a giant rock sitting in the middle of the cave, shattering it into pieces. Jaco used his body to shield Tights from the jagged pieces of rock flying at them. When it was over, he hopped to his feet with his ray gun aimed at the fiend who attacked them.

"Oh, it's you," Jaco said when it was Goku who emerged from the rubble, dusting off his gi.

"Goku?" Tights said in confusion and got up from the floor. Then her voice went up several decibels higher as she demanded, "Were you trying to kill us?"

"Of course not," Goku said, laughing off her charge.

Jaco crossed his arms. "Gonna need an explanation here," he prodded.

"I kind of made Vegeta mad. That guy sure packs a wallop," he filled them in, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. His eyes took on a determined glint as he expressed, "Man, I can't wait to fight him. He's stronger than anyone I've fought yet."

Jaco would have raised his eyebrows then if he had any. "Saiyans are nuts," he concluded.

"The needles!" Tights exclaimed suddenly in remembrance. "We've gotta hurry up and warn him about them!" Tights said before she took off running down the path. Goku shuddered a little before running after her with Jaco.

* * *

"So you've finally decided to show yourself." The prince stood before what could only be the monster he'd heard so much about, and was utterly unimpressed. The giant mud colored creature greatly resembled a turtle, except far more evil looking, and it had an odd shell that was smooth and metallic looking with several holes in it. Vegeta lifted his hand to charge up an attack guaranteed to put the monster out of its misery. "Just hold still, ugly. I'm going to make this quick," he instructed.

He was about to fire when the monster let out high pitched screech that rattled his eardrums and began breathing heavily and sucking in large amounts of air like it was preparing for an attack of its own. Out of curiosity, he refrained from releasing the lethal energy he'd gathered and waited to see what it would do. The prince watched as it sucked in one last big breath of air and held it in and began straining. "What the hell is it doing?" he wondered, but he quickly got his answer when he saw sharp points rising up from the holes in it shells. When they reached their full height, the creature roared and needles shot out its shell in all directions. The prince dodged the ones that came his way easily and lifted up into the air.

"Any more tricks up your shell?" he taunted before he hurled a ki ball down at the creature.

The turtle monster ducked its head inside its shell and the energy hit its shell squarely then seemed to just disappear.

"He absorbed it?" the prince said in surprise.

The creature retracted all of its limbs inside its shell and started spinning around furiously then launched itself towards the prince when it reached max speed. The prince dodged the strike just in time and the huge shell crashed into the wall, destroying some of it and shaking the entire cave.

The prince smirked. "You're fast for a weakling."

* * *

Tights and the others froze when they heard a blood curdling inhuman scream resounding through the cave.

Goku grinned. "Sounds like Vegeta caught up to that monster."

"Quiet!" Jaco said, as he strained to hear. He could hear something traveling towards them at high speed. "Get down!" he told them and dropped to the floor. Tights followed suit but Goku stood there looking at them in confusion.

"What is it?" Goku asked him.

Jaco was about to tell him to shut up and get down but opted to press his forehead to the ground and cover his head instead when he saw the needles flying at them. Goku panicked and jumped around hopping from foot to foot and narrowly avoided getting skewered by one.

"Whew," Goku said, wiping his brow when the onslaught was over. "That was close."

"Not close enough," Jaco muttered in annoyance as he and Tights stood up. As soon as they did, they almost fell back down when a powerful vibration shook the cave and dirt and rocks started raining down from overhead.

"On second thought, Prince Vegeta can take care of himself," Tights said, looking at the ceiling warily as even bigger rocks began to plummet and the cave continued to quake violently. "Let's get out of here before we end up buried alive!"

"Roger that," Jaco agreed before he and Tights took off running back the way they came.

"Hmm, I did want to get a look at the monster," Goku said to himself rooted to the spot in deliberation, before he suddenly felt Tights' hand around his wrist, dragging him away with her as she ran full speed.

* * *

The prince evaded the monster again as it torpedoed toward him. It had been steadily gaining momentum in its attacks and was even faster now. Too fast for him to land a solid blow on it with his fists since ki blasts weren't effective. He shot feet first to the ground as the beast charged at him again, zipping above his head and crashing into the wall. In the second that he escaped, he was able to get a good look at its underbelly and noticed that it did not have the same metallic appearance as the top shell. The monster dropped down, slamming to the floor of the cave thunderously and started spinning around rapidly. The prince took the air in order to give himself more space to avoid the next attack, as the floor was crowded with debris. The turtle creature's next strike missed him completely and the large shell began smashing into the walls and ceiling, ricocheting in all directions without aim. The prince darted around the space, avoiding the shell and rocks were falling all around him. The cave wouldn't hold much longer and the thing seemed more intent on making it collapse in on them both than fighting. He needed it to focus on him.

Vegeta dropped to the top of a tall standing rock that had somehow remained intact. "Hey!" he yelled to get the thing's attention. "Your aim is even worse than your breath! I'm right here!" He smirked when he heard an indignant growl echo from within the shell before it came after him with a vengeance. The prince shot forward at the same time and flew parallel beneath the shell, twisting his body in the air at just the right moment to point his outstretched palms at the center of creature's belly and unleashed a ki beam that ripped through it, incinerating its guts. The creature shrieked in pain as it collided with the rock, demolishing it, and crashed to the floor, dead.

"Pity," the prince said with mock sympathy before he flew out of a hole in the ceiling of the crumbling cave.

At least he was able to get a light workout.

 **AN: Next chapter – Kakarotto tai Bejita!**

 **Now, I wouldn't get too excited about that if I were you, because I suck at writing fight scenes. Um, sooo in the original manga that introduces Tights (whatever it's called) Tights meets Jaco when he crash lands on Earth and 5 year old Bulma fixes his ship for him. In my story though, Jaco and Bulma haven't met yet and he ended up on Earth much later, and Tights has been galivanting around the universe with him ever since, and after she and Jaco crash landed on Planet Jumin, she found out about the Saiyans and how the Jumins had been appealing to them for help to no avail, so she took it upon herself to go make a plea on their behalf. That was for the guest reviewer who asked why is Tights in the story. Oh, and Jaco has the ability to hear very well, by the way.**

 **SaiyanPrince541: DBZ, YYH, FMAB = must haves in English for me. Other than that, Japanese all the way!**

 **tigerlily9996: Been there before, honey;)**


	13. Chapter 13

King Vegeta and Zorn remained outside for a while after the prince and everyone else had gone, each man silently reflecting on what they'd seen. Zorn broke the silence first.

"The prince has been vowing all week to destroy Kakarott at his first opportunity."

The king didn't respond to his rhetorical statement. It was Zorn acknowledging aloud that he, like everyone else, was in disbelief over the fact that the prince had suddenly postponed his highly-anticipated battle with Goku to go help a strange woman he just met and a race of weaklings he couldn't care less about.

"Sire," Zorn began slowly. "Could it be that he feels an obligation to that woman because she is Bulma Brief's sister?"

"Not obligation," the king disagreed.

"But, sire, he was never inclined to go aid the Jumins before until she asked. He went out of his way to fulfill her request and . . ." Zorn paused and thought about how the prince had only intervened when Tights was about to be sent away. He made no attempt to offer his help until that moment. "He simply didn't want her to go," he realized. "What does this mean?"

"Nothing has changed. He misses Dr. Brief and her sister reminds him of her. That is the only reason. When she leaves, he won't think of her."

Zorn nodded in understanding, though he was unable to relate. He had no experience with such feelings, he had never missed anyone before and couldn't imagine himself dealing with erratic changes in his emotions and behavior as a result. After observing the prince's decline over the past weeks, he was grateful for his ignorance. It was only because it was the prince and his condition had potential to affect the empire that he took interest in the subject at all, drawing on his store of logic to try and grasp it.

"His state will only worsen from the reminder," Zorn reasoned. "This may be the thing that pushes him to go to Earth."

"He will not do as the average Saiyan does, how many times must I say it? Do not underestimate him," the king said sharply. He knew Zorn really believed his words and wasn't merely telling him what he wanted to hear to stir his hopes, but it was just as frustrating to him as if that was Zorn's intention. He, like most Saiyans considered Moon Rapture to be unbeatable and irresistible for long, as most had watched or heard tell of it making quick work of someone they knew or someone known to someone they knew. No one had bet on the prince curing himself of it, only how long he could resist it, with seven months being the maximum bet. It was only because it was the prince that seven months had even been proposed. As incredibly stubborn as he was, Saiyans could not conceive of him lasting longer than that. To Zorn, someone resisting the Rapture for years was unthinkable. He didn't know Keef had done it for three. He didn't know how hell bent his nephew was on shattering that record. He just didn't understand.

The king had come close to telling Zorn the story of his brother many times and found he could not. It was out of necessity that he told Vegeta; he needed to know the deadly consequences of the path he'd chosen so he'd choose another direction. Or so the king had hoped. There was no purpose or wisdom in telling Zorn. Him sharing in the knowledge of the true gravity of the situation would not change anything. Ultimately, all he could do was wait and see what the boy would do. He couldn't force his hand, not this time. King Vegeta wanted to believe, as everyone else did, that soon the prince would have no choice but to stop his self-inflicted torture and go after the human female, but the persistent feeling in his gut wouldn't allow him to.

The Saiyans stood side by side, silent once more after the king's harsh rebuke. Zorn took a calculating glance at the King Vegeta's profile and fully saw, for the first time, how deeply troubled he was before he schooled his features back into his usual mask of stoicism. What the king was so worried about, Zorn didn't know, but he instinctively felt he should be just as worried about it. He knew better, though, then to come out and ask what it was. Neither of them said anything else. Zorn stood there replaying in his mind all their conversations on the topic, analyzing them for any important details he had missed. And the king's mind, as it had done hundreds of times before, was replaying the last moments of Keef's life. Except lately, instead of his brother he had been seeing his son's face twisted in agony before death.

* * *

When the prince emerged from the ruined cave he stilled in the air, surprised that the area was now surrounded by little people. They were about three feet tall, covered in yellow feathers and had blue beaked mouths. Some of them, the females he presumed, had long, heavy blue eyelashes and multi-colored plumes sprouting from the top of their heads. As soon as they spotted him everyone cheered. Tights was there cheering along with them next to Jaco and Goku. He touched down in front of them and one of the male Jumins came forward to meet him and bowed. When he bowed the rest of the people bowed, too.

"We are so thankful," he said, smiling.

"We are thankful for Prince Vegeta!" the others chimed.

"Is the Lakkola really gone?" a little Jumin boy in his mother's arms asked the prince shyly.

"That's what they call the monster, or used to," Goku said with a grin.

Vegeta cut his eyes at him. He didn't need his help to figure that one out. "Shut up, Kakarott," he said before nodding at the child.

The Jumins started cheering again at the prince's confirmation and quieted down when the Jumin who had stepped forward raised his hand. "I am Ooma," he said.

The prince swept his gaze over the diminutive creature acting as leader and then out over the polluted, garbage strewn land. The stench was revolting, the air had been more breathable within the confines of the cave.

"What happened to this place?" he demanded. "Or has it always been this disgusting?" He had little information about the planet, only that some Saiyans had been sent to appraise it in the past and found it worthless. Oddly, Ooma's smile broadened at the question.

"Oh no, Jumin was once a marvelously beautiful planet."

"Yes, marvelously beautiful!" the others agreed.

"The most beautiful!"

Vegeta's eyes narrowed at their penchant for echoing.

"Well what happened here?" he snapped impatiently.

"Our planet was lush and plentiful with every kind of plant and fruit and refreshing pure waters until the ships above became confused ten years ago." Ooma's calm smile never left his face as he explained. It seemed to be his permanent expression.

"Confused?" Tights prodded. She and Jaco had not heard the full story of the Jumins' circumstances during their short time there. They were too busy escaping from the "Lakkola."

Ooma's smile warmed as he turned to acknowledge her. "Yes. Ten years ago, our friends in the universe began mistaking our planet for a garbage disposal site. At first it was two ships, then six, then," he stopped to chuckle to himself, "there are too many to count now."

Vegeta frowned at his pleasant disposition. They were obviously being taken advantage of by other planets for being a small planet outside the alliance of the Saiyan Empire. People could dump their trash there freely without fear of punishment or consequence. This was why Tights had said they needed the protection of the king. Jumin had become the scourge of the universe. No doubt the inhabitants had been plagued with disease living under such toxic conditions. Their feathers, probably vibrantly colored at some point looked dull and there were only a couple thousand of them there when the population should have been in the lower millions range. And they were all smiling about it. The prince met Tights' eyes and she had a sad, knowing look on her face.

"Told ya. Nicest people ever," she said softly.

 _More like utter fools._ But the prince found himself growing angry on their behalf. He didn't usually sympathize with weaklings, believing that whoever was strongest and most cunning was who deserved to survive. The Jumins were weak and fatally naive, but he couldn't bring himself to feel they deserved this.

"Where did the monster, this 'Lakkola,' come from?" he asked.

"The Lakkola came three years ago from one of the ships above." Ooma said. "He was much smaller than us when we first found him and he was a dear friend to us all."

"He was our dearest friend," the Jumins echoed.

"We cared for him and fed him with whatever food we had, and one day he drank something that spilled out of one of the ships above. It made him grow very large and," Ooma paused and Vegeta was sure he saw his constant smile falter for a ghost of an instant, "he forgot that he was our dear friend."

"He forgot us all."

"And it has terrorized you ever since, forcing you to live underground."

Ooma nodded. "Today, thanks to you we are safe and can come out from beneath the surface without fear." He pointed to the sun overhead. "We are thankful to see the sun again!"

"We are thankful for the sun!"

Ooma turned to face the crowd and declared, "We will rebuild our cities and start anew! This is our new beginning!"

"We are thankful for a new beginning!"

"Yes, we will make a new plan!"

As Vegeta witnessed their annoyingly upbeat display that was inspiring a twitch in his left eye, it was not lost on him that not once had the Jumins directly blamed the Lakkola, who had surely slaughtered many of them, or the bastards dumping their waste on the planet without regard. There was no hint of anger among them about it, no desire for vengeance, just inane chants and blind optimism. He couldn't take it anymore.

"Stop that!" he roared, startling them into silence. "Look around you! If this continues you're all going to die, there are few of you left now. How will you start over if you're all dead from starvation and breathing this damn filthy air?"

His tirade was cut short when he noticed an old Jumin woman hobbling after a baby who was running toward a shallow pool of chemical waste. The prince growled and flashed over to the child, snatching him up by the back of his shirt before he could dive headfirst into it and die or be transformed into an unsightly mutant.

"Do you not understand your situation?" the prince scolded them after he stomped over to the old woman and thrust the baby into her arms.

Ooma's face was the picture of peace as he told him, "We are not worried about anything now that our savior is here. We knew that you would come, Prince Vegeta."

"We knew the savior Prince Vegeta would come."

"It is just like the prophecy said!"

Vegeta clenched his fists, extremely irritated now. "What the hell are you talking about? What prophecy? Explain!"

"Nana!" Ooma called into the crowd. "Come and share the prophecy you received."

The crowd parted to the horror of a Jumin woman who was visibly shaking in fear as she was left standing alone, exposed.

"Come forward," Ooma urged her gently.

The woman didn't appear to be that old, but she didn't seem young either. She looked around the same age as Ooma. It was hard to judge, but the prince guessed Ooma and Nana were probably middle aged.

Ooma laid his claw on her shoulder when she reached him, and beamed at her. "Tell him."

Nana nervously avoided eye contact with the prince as she stuttered out, "I had a-, a dream that, that, you would come . . . probably," she finished weakly.

Vegeta glared at her. She had a dream that he would come— _probably_? What kind of prophecy was that?

"Don't mind Nana, she is very shy but very gifted," Ooma said. "She can read anyone by touching them and every vision she has comes true." When the prince raised his eyebrow at him skeptically, he insisted, "Truly, she's never wrong. Give her your hand and you will see."

The prince scoffed, and removed his right glove to hold his hand out to her in challenge. This he had to see.

"Go ahead, show him," Ooma encouraged Nana.

Nana looked at his smiling face uncertainly before venturing her claw toward the prince's outstretched palm. As the tip of her nail made contact with his skin she closed her eyes and immediately felt like she was sinking into darkness, a bottomless void that held no possibility of escape. There was no solid ground, nothing to grab onto, just a black, empty zone that had no end and robbed of her of all hope. As she sunk further into the abyss she looked up and saw a shimmering blue light overhead and reached toward it desperately, knowing if she could just reach it she could feel happiness again. Then the darkness closed in around it, snuffing out its brilliance completely, and there was nothing left but acute despair and the feeling that her soul was splintering.

"Nana! Nana!"

The Jumins gathered around trying to rouse the woman who was on the ground curled up in the fetal position sobbing loudly. Nana gasped and opened her tear-filled eyes when she finally heard their cries and was brought back to reality.

"Nana, what happened? Did you have a vision?"

Nana shook her head. "No, I, I didn't see anything," she said and got to her feet shakily as they helped her up.

"Are you alright, Nana?" Ooma asked her.

For the first time, Nana met the prince's eyes steadily. She was not alright. After accidentally absorbing herself in the deepest depths of his emotions, she felt like nothing would ever be okay again. She wanted to die.

"I'm alright," she whispered, unable to tear her eyes away from Vegeta's. They were so cold and empty, just like his heart.

Vegeta was the one who had to look away. He was a believer in her ability now. "From now on," he told the Jumins solemnly, "anyone who dumps waste here will have to deal with me personally." He expected them to break out into their noisy cheering and chants again but this time there was weeping. The scene made him uncomfortable, he would have preferred the cheering instead.

Ooma came forward crying and wiping his eyes. "This is the happiest day," he said. "You are a most noble and kind prince."

"The great savior Prince Vegeta is so noble and kind."

The prince felt even more uncomfortable by their description of him. He had been called many things in his years; noble and kind was a first. He gave a short nod to Ooma and then turned to his traveling companions. "Let's go."

"Are we leaving?" Tights asked.

"Not yet," the prince said before taking to the air.

Goku, Tights, and Jaco followed him back to the ship where the prince revealed several crates in the ship hold.

"Grab some of these," he ordered Goku.

"What's in 'em?"

"Food."

Tights' eyes lit up. "Good thinking, Prince Vegeta!" she commended.

"Not my idea. Ruti suggested it." Ruti knew of the Jumins' appeals for help and that at least one of those appeals included a request for food supplies. There had just been a large shipment of food in the ship bay and when the prince contacted him to get his ship ready, Ruti asked if he should load some of it on.

"Ruti?" Tights frowned at first, not immediately remembering the name, then recognition dawned on her. "Oh, him!"

Vegeta went to get some of the crates as well and Tights turned to Jaco and said, "Come on, let's give them a hand."

"Stay here," Vegeta said.

"What? Why?" she asked before coughing into her hand.

He shook his head. _Foolish woman._ She went running to help the Jumins without any thought to herself. "Your weak body can't withstand this poisonous air. Stay here," he said again and walked away.

Tights glared at his back about to object again but broke out into a fit of coughing. Jaco sat down on the floor and pulled her down next to him.

"Sit."

"I'm not a dog, Jaco!" she complained, coughing again, but she didn't attempt to stand back up.

Jaco crossed his arms, angry at himself for not noticing the toll the atmosphere was having on her. She was so bossy and overbearing at times he forgot how fragile she was. But the Saiyan had noticed it. And he was helping the Jumins, had saved their lives actually. Jaco had always been under the impression that the Saiyans were evil, having full knowledge of their ruthless, bloody exploits in the past. He'd never met a Saiyan in person, though. Now that he had, he wondered if maybe they weren't as bad as he'd always believed.

The Jumins heaped more praise on the prince and Goku when they arrived with the food. Goku helped them unload it and distribute it amongst themselves while Vegeta observed detachedly, growing impatient and past ready to leave. But there was one last thing he was curious to know.

"Ooma," he summoned the leader of the Jumins over to him.

"What is it Great Prince Vegeta?"

"How were you able to contact us?"

"After the destruction, we were able to salvage some of our technology. When the men like you came to our planet years ago, they told us they were Saiyans and they were the strongest people in the universe and their king ruled over everything. We had never heard of such people. We asked these Saiyans to tell us more and they showed us how to locate your planet on our astral radar. That is how we were able to direct our calls to your kingdom. When we started having troubles, we knew you were the ones to call for help."

"Hm." As foolish as he thought the Jumins were for resting their hopes on the encounter with the Saiyans tasked with evaluating the worth of their planet—who would have destroyed them all had it had been found to be of significant value—he was mildly impressed with their ingenuity. He decided that he would contract the Meglians to assist with cleaning up the planet and rebuilding of the civilization. When it was restored back to its original state, he would have the planet reevaluated for submission into the empire. That was the best he could do for them for now.

"Could it really be?" one of the Jumins exclaimed.

Vegeta turned his attention toward the shout and scowled when he saw the Jumin holding up one of those wretched worms he encountered in the cave. The other Jumins crowded around excitedly and Ooma went over to see as well.

"We haven't seen these since the ships from above came! Surely this is a sign of good fortune!" Ooma said to his people.

"We ran into these little guys before. Is there supposed to be something special about 'em?" Goku asked, peering in closer.

"They are rare creatures, with mysterious properties that strengthen the body and soul of those who eat it," Ooma explained. "It is truly extraordinary."

"You mean to tell me you _can_ eat them? Are they good?"

"Oh yes!" one of the Jumins said. "There is nothing more delicious on the whole planet."

"We should give this to the Great Prince Vegeta!" another suggested.

"Yes, yes!" everyone agreed.

Everyone followed after Ooma as he took the brightly colored worm and presented it to the prince. "Please accept this gift from us, Great Prince Vegeta. It is the most valuable thing we have to offer. We want you to have it."

"No thanks," he said stiffly, feeling bile rising to his throat at the thought of consuming that thing. "Let's go, Kakarott," he barked and flew off.

The Jumins waved and said their goodbyes and more thanks to him until he disappeared from view. Goku was about to follow but stopped to look curiously again at the worm in Ooma's hand. He was intrigued by the Jumins' claim that it had extraordinary benefits.

"Do you think I could eat it, instead?" he asked Ooma.

"Please," Ooma said and handed it to him.

Goku squinted at the worm wriggling around in the grip of his two fingers. "You eat it just like this? You don't cook it first?"

"Oh no," Ooma said. "If you cook it, it loses its wonderful flavor and the good nutrients are lost."

"All the goodness is lost."

"It is best to eat it that way."

The Saiyan shrugged. If they said it was tastier this way then he would take their word for it. "Here goes nothing!" He held the worm up and dropped it in his mouth. Experimentally, he tried chewing it a bit and his eyes widened. "It _does_ taste like candy worms!" he gushed, chewing more quickly. After he swallowed it down he felt warm, prickly tingles all over his body and he held his arms out and laughed when he saw that his skin was glowing the same colors as the worm. "You guys weren't kidding, I feel great!" He thought he even felt his muscles growing. Goku lifted into the air once the glowing faded and his skin returned to its usual color. "Thanks! Maybe I'll come back and visit again someday," he said waving before he flew away.

After the prince got done berating Goku for taking so long and threatening to leave him behind next time, he set course for Planet Vegeta and put the ship on autopilot with the intention of spending the entire return trip in his private quarters. Before he did, he pointed at Goku and said:

"When we get back there'll be no more interruptions, Kakarott. You'd better be prepared."

"Same to you," Goku quipped, feeling especially confident.

The prince snorted in contempt before retiring to his room. He dropped on the bed and stretched out on his back with his arms folded behind his head, not bothering to remove his armor or boots. But he did remove his scouter. Vegeta closed his eyes and tried to focus on the energy of the others. If a halfwit like Kakarott could sense power levels without a scouter, then so could he. Now that he knew it was possible, all he had to do was give it some practice and he would eventually figure out how to do it. He practiced the whole way back, giving himself something to occupy his complete concentration so his brain wouldn't have a chance to analyze his actions that day, or think about the effect the Jumins' unadulterated gratitude was having on his conscience. And he especially didn't want to think about the dire portrait of misery on Nana's face after she touched him that mirrored perfectly what he felt inside every single day.

 **AN: Heyyyy people! I know it's been a while. Like I said, I can't promise quick updates but I can promise I will keep updating, so don't worry, I won't leave this story unfinished. I know this chapter is a bit short and a lot depressing, but it is necessary. But that was a nice thing Vegeta did for the Jumins, huh? I thought so. Oh, I know I said Goku and Vegeta's fight would be in this chapter but actually it'll be the next chapter. I am so not looking forward to it because, again, I suck at fighting scenes. I apologize in advance for it sucking but I'll try my best. Unfortunately (for me) I can't avoid writing it. Anyway, do leave me lots of lovely reviews and I'll respond to any that stick out to me whether via pm or in my AN on the next update. Until next time!**


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